


Painted black

by armethaumaturgy



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Guns, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Mafia AU, Multi, Murder, Smut, rip Seraph
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-05-26 12:44:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6239887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armethaumaturgy/pseuds/armethaumaturgy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lusa exhales in a haste, eyes — now more observant and shining with disbelief — peer back at the boy. It’s hard to believe, but judging by the state of the guy…</p><p>“Would you like to come with us?” Masi offers. He doesn’t need to glance at Lusa to know the questioning frown thrown his way, but he’s certain the other understands. Of course he does, Lusa is quick to experience the same understanding as Masi after a short while of being faced with the same situation.</p><p>“We’ll help you.”</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Collab with <a href="http://biodystopia.tumblr.com/">Coal</a>.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It’s an unreasonable time; even the usual night life of the city has taken to fleeing away for the night, returning home and away, exhausted from functioning far past the last rays of daylight.

It’s a usual business, a drop off to a desperate customer. One of the filthy back alleys is always a popular choice for them, and this is no exception. Rats scurry away from litter once the clack of finely polished shoes pace themselves towards their destination.

“Gross…” Lusa mutters, watching where he steps carefully, lips pulled back in a sneer.

Masi, of course, deals with the exchanges, getting one of their men to do the usual: count the money, load the guns, exchange the case. Never in any other order. The exchange is soon done, as dull and predictable as always. Masi straightens his posture.

Another routine, Masi always squares himself before he gives an order.

“Lusa and I will be detouring, we’ll be back by 5.” Firm and authoritative, there’s no other way he addresses himself when doing such. With mutters and grunts of ‘yes boss’, the family disburse out of the rotten back allies.

“That’s unlike you to—”

“Do you smell that?”

The question catches him completely off guard. Masi never interrupts, never sounds so wary. He takes time to articulate his questions and yet…

“Load your gun.” Masi mimics his own words, quickly retracting his gun and cocking it back. Looking around sharply, he delves deeper towards this supposed smell.

From the connected alleyway, further down in the darkness, behind the overloaded dumpsters and strewn-about, ripped open trash bags, wafts the stench of blood. It’s not the stale, underlying smell of dried blood; no, this is the heavy, irritating smell of fresh, just spilled blood.

In the darkest shadows, kneeling on the gravely ground, is a small figure, hunched over so much it looks almost painful.

Their shoulders lift and fall as their hands rip at something in front of them, quiet, yet haunting sounds of leather — is it? — being ripped apart bouncing between the narrow and cracked walls.

The sounds stop as the figure stops their movement, becoming so still it is almost like they weren’t even alive.

The figure turns their head at the sound of the footsteps arriving, letting the small bit of light fall over their features; a pale, sunken face covered in dripping blood from the nose down and a pair of near-shining eyes, half closed as they look sideways at the men in the lip of the alley. They appear almost dead, aside from the small glimmer of something unnerving inside of them.

There’s silence, the two bosses move stiffly, though evenly. Breathing even, though shaky. A heartbeat, then nothing.

Neither of the two speak, only witness the man. (Could this malnourished being even be called a man?) Lusa gulps, levels his gun, and exhales. Masi blinks, stiffens, then analyses. Neither move.

“Hello…” It’s soft; a tender, warm voice Masi doesn’t allow to be heard, he values his reputation of being hard-to-read and sly, as unwanted as those traits are.

Masi doesn’t approach, raises his palms out, and gestures quickly for Lusa to lower his gun. The other side eyes this request, but puts the gun away with little fuss nonetheless. Masi lowers himself to the skinny form’s height.

“Are you alright?”

The figure eyes Masi up and down, eyes glinting with wariness in between quick blinks. He — for it is a boy, now that Masi can take a closer look — wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing the blood around more than anything, and licks the crimson liquid off his skin.

His shoulders hunch back, he balances on his tiptoes, like a spring ready to jump at a moment’s notice.

He looks disheveled, his hair in a mussed mess and his clothes, a simple set of a shirt and ripped up jeans, almost fully covered in blood. Most of it is dried, in various stages of fading, but there’s also a whole lot of fresh, probably from the carcass laying behind the boy. Over the boy’s slight shoulder, the numerous gashes and missing chunks on its stomach are visible.

“Who are you?” the boy hisses, hostility apparent in his cracking voice. It sounds like he hasn’t spoken in a while, which doesn’t make it sound any better.

It fades back into silence quickly.

Lusa waits.

It’s killing him, and common sense tells him that nothing is right about this situation, that death is only pending if they interfere. He should grab Masi and run, get away from this boy. Though they have guns, this boy looks completely unpredictable, like he could attack from anywhere, despite there being only one line of field he could possibly attack from.

_Run_.

But… Of course he can’t. Masi came here for a reason, he always has a reason. Lusa trusts Masi, entirely and willingly. That and, this boy, although naturally he’d run away, this boy looks hurt.

“I’m Mastermind, a strange name to hear I’m sure but,” he breathes, smiling at the other and offering out his hand, keeping the other in view and showing its emptiness. He’s trying not to be a threat; laughable. “Call me Masi.”

There’re no more words exchanged, and Lusa takes it as his cue too. Lowering himself alongside Masi, he too fully returns his gun away, discreetly offering the sight of his empty hands to match his companion.

“M'Lusa, like this guy I don’t have a particularly favourable name either, but unlike this guy, everyone called me Lusa rather than a select few.” He lets out a lighthearted laugh, quieter than his usually loud ones. “Enough backstory from us…Are you hurt anywhere?”

The boy looks at them for a long, long moment. Silence stretches, until it feels like it is bearing down upon them.

The boy’s fists clench and unclench for a few moments. His eyes jump between the two figures that now obscure even the bit of the light that befell his spot. He feels cornered, but he knows that worse comes to worst, he could still jump over the slightly broken back wall. He’d done so many times before.

He doesn’t know why they have guns, but people with guns are dangerous, people with guns are too dangerous. There’s something about the two of them that beckons him, though.

“No…” he mutters. He’s fine, the scrapes and bruises around his body don’t warrant to be taken into account. “Why are you here? What do you want?”

He steels his gaze again, reminds himself not to let his guard down. His high is starting to fade already, and his body feels a bit sluggish. He reminds himself not to let it.

Shoulders tense from the two men, they recognise Esper’s posture as a potential threat. Though due to the unpredictable form, they can’t distinguish if the other is poised to pounce towards or away from them. Neither is a result they want.

“We originally came here on business… I felt something was amiss, so came to investigate.” Calmly and as even as he can, Masi explains further, “We have no malevolent intent. Why are you here?”

“I was hungry,” the boy says, so quietly the others have to strain their ears to hear him. Well, it’s not technically a lie. He had needed the high as well, but he had been hungry — still is, in all honesty.

He opens his mouth to speak further and then seems to think better of it. He repeats this a few times, each one with a slighty more strained expression, like he’s internally leading a heated debate.

Finally, after what feels like an hour but is more than likely just a few seconds, his shoulders sag and he looks away from the Lusa and Masi — what strange names, he thinks. Then again, it’s not like he hadn’t known weirder — and somewhere towards the heaps of trash.

“There’s nothing edible for you here…” The bulkier of the two reasons, pointing individually at the mounds of rot. “See? It’s all garbage.”

Lusa sighs when he doesn’t get the sickened boys attention, pouting slightly and shaking his head.

“He’s not eating the garbage.”

Lusa lets a confused gaze wonder to Masi, a soft 'huh?’ accompany his gesture.

“He’s eating the corpse.”

A flinch.

Lusa exhales in a haste, eyes — now more observant and shining with disbelief — peer back at the boy. It’s hard to believe, but judging by the state of the guy…

“Would you like to come with us?” Masi offers. He doesn’t need to glance at Lusa to know the questioning frown thrown his way, but he’s certain the other understands. Of course he does, Lusa is quick to experience the same understanding as Masi after a short while of being faced with the same situation.

“We’ll help you.”

The boy’s brows furrow, a look of confusion setting over his bloodied features. He blinks and purses his lips, glancing here and there.

He looks over his shoulder at the mauled corpse, at the flies slowly gathering on its exposed wounds, drawn to it by the putrid stench. He takes a deep breath, inhales it again; he’d been here for quite a while, forgot all about it.

The corners of his mouth pull back in disgust; it’s starting to be too reminiscent.

He stands up, so abrubtly he notices the others getting startled. Standing upright, he’s about the same height as them, though his posture is so bad it takes off a few centimetres. His physique, though, is incomparable even to Masi’s lithe build. He looks like Lusa could break him with only minimal effort.

He decides to voice his inquiry from before, since he still didn’t find an explanation in his brain. “What does 'help’ mean?”

“Help… You don't—?”

“Help is where others than yourself reach out to another, a way of doing something selfless for the other without any particular want or gain. It’s where the one party makes the other feel safe, secure and warm in whatever it is they’re having trouble with, to reassure then that it isn’t bothersome of bad, that the other party are delighted to simply be around them.”

Masi explains, a fondness in his tone as if he’s remembering a distance memory.

“We’ll be helping you with all of those above. We’ll give you a safe place to stay, proper — more substantial — food. Anything you need we’ll get you, within reason of course. We’ll be there to care for you, to give you a family, somewhere secure. I-if you want it, that is…” Lusa drags his hand through his hair, tugging at the strands to try and tug away at the dusting of embarrassment in his cheeks.

Lusa isn’t able to weave his words as well as Masi, but he hopes he at least help add to the young boys convincing.

They both wait, eager yet patiently awaiting an answer.

The boy watches them, pays close attention to Lusa’s face, because there’s something in his expression he can’t place.

He recollects Masi’s words, moving his tongue inside his mouth like he’s tasting them. So that’s what 'help’ means. He had heard it so many times; uttered, whispered, cried, begged, yelled. Yet he had never understood its meaning, since not a single time it had been said had anything been done.

Lusa’s offer, his almost hesitant words, spark a small glimmer of want within Esper’s heart. He wants that, oh god does he. But he knows how people like Masi and Lusa are.

“What’s the catch?”

They are ruthless and they are dangerous and they only care for themselves.

“You’re to stop this-” Masi gestures to the corpse behind the boy, “-and not to harm any other family members while staying in our residence.”

There isn’t an immediate response, Masi doesn’t expect there to be, but the concept that the boy is even considering allows hope to flair within the two. They might gain an addition to their family tonight, the possibility of gaining another person to trust and rely on, someone they can give trust, companionship and a loving atmosphere to, because lord knows just by looking at the other, he needs it.

“It’s your choice, but y'know, we’d treat ya’ right…” Lusa scratches at his nose, a habit he gained and practices whilst contemplating his words.  

“We have a very strong family mentality, you’d be exposed to it greatly, please consider this will be the environment you’d be entering if you decide to come with us.”

Lusa groans a little at Masi’s blunt and straightforward response, though it’s true. Lusa is trying to sell them both here. The berserker stands up in clunky, heavy motions, stretching and shaking limbs. After his joints pop in satisfaction here and there, he flashes a bright smile towards the blood-covered boy.

“We’re nice, once ya’ get to know us. We’ll help ya’, kid!”

The boy almost flinches, catches himself somewhere in the middle of the motion and stills himself again, a sort of rigidness coming over his shoulders, pulling them back.

Rules. Of course.

He wouldn’t mind, not at all, but… he has to know the repercussions. He has to. Not knowing had cost a lot of people their lives before.

“Wait… what happens if I… do?” He’s not sure if his tone ends up being too challenging or just choked, since he’s just trying to keep the fear out of it, but he doesn’t truly care.

“Understand that our family is what keep us functioning fluidly. We’ve been around one another for years, I trust them, so to speak…”

Lusa knows where this will develop to, a harsh reality to the kind of work they perform, to what they would do if such a case were to occur. It’s their job, after all, what had been drilled into the two since a very young age.

“You’d be killed.”

This poor boy is being offered a place to stay, to which Lusa and Masi suspect he has never even dreamed of stepping foot into, yet the two need to supply the firm line, the line they don’t tolerate being crossed by any.

“Of course, this is only if you perform acts such as rape or murder. Of course others apply, but it’s advised you don’t test our boundaries to identify what those are.” Masi is cruel, it’s a fact, you can tell by the calmness of his eyes, unreadable and private, the smile that always lingers when surrounded by all but those he trusts. He’s a villain, wicked and deceiving, but only in these situations, only here and like this can he become so cruel if willed to.

“We want to help, but in return, please respect the family we bring you into, if you really must do… this… stuff, then we’ll arrange it, but don’t do it inside the family, okay kid?”

Truth be told, Esper doesn’t understand half of what Masi says, though he tries his best to substitute words so he can understand the whole speech. What is this 'rape’ he speaks of? From the man’s face, Esper guesses he doesn’t want to ask. So he doesn’t.

All he does is bring a hand up to his upper arm, almost timidly grasping at the sleeve of his - in comparison - disgusting shirt.

And he nods. A single time, slowly, whilst looking behind the two, eyes trained to the mess of discolored bricks making up the wall.

Masi’s eyes lose their detached hold, ebbing into affection and fondness.

“Then, welcome into our family.”

No more words are exchanged, Masi briskly turns on his heels, expecting the other two to follow him.

Lusa tuts out a short 'typical’ before drawing his own fond gaze to the boy.

“We won’t ask you about anything personal until you’re ready to tell us, but could we have ya name?”

The boy falls into step after a moment’s hesitation at Masi’s utter lack of it.

“Esper,” he says. He greatly enjoys the tone of Lusa’s voice, for some reason he can’t quite place. “I’m Esper.”

Truly, he can’t get over how alien the warm looks and actions are, but in a good way. They leave goosebumps on his skin, and a pleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach that has nothing to do with the fact that he’d just eaten.

He presses a hand to it momentarily, just to make sure he isn’t just imagining it. When it turns out he isn’t, he lets a small smile graze his lips.

Lusa laughs as obnoxiously loud as usual, mainly talking to Esper, complementing that the three of them all have abstract and unusual names. He laughs at his own bad jokes, teases Masi occasionally to bring him back into their conversations, and although it consists of mainly Lusa making idle chatter and Esper occasionally humming or nodding, the atmosphere surrounding the three is warm against the cold, unforgiving night.

They stop outside of a Vet’s, and an extraordinarily large one at that. Masi inserts a pin, a card, a key, and then a fingerprint. Unusually tight security for a Vet’s.

The three shuffle in, and Masi goes directly ahead through to the back, eager to strip and get himself clean upstairs rather than remain in his stiff suit for much longer.

Lusa ever so gently taps Esper on the shoulder, quirking a brow when the other flinches but doesn’t question it.

“This is our cover up of sorts; our three beauties mainly run this front. We have the one or two family member who are actually qualified Vet’s too, so yeah, while it does function as a perfectly respectable Veterinary, it’s also our little secret, so try not to expose us, 'kay?”

Lusa laughs heartedly.

“'Course, nothing will happen to ya if ya do, just let us know who you told and we’ll take care of the rest.” It’s clear what Lusa means. Exposure means outing and endangerment of his family, and the longer you know Lusa, the more you come to understand that it’s not a thing he takes lightly.

“Now then, Masi is probably already drawing a bath, follow me Esper, we’ll get ya cleaned up and something sturdy in ya!” He takes to walking down the dimly lit corridor that Masi wandered down not too long ago, “Hope you’re okay with sharing, wastes more water if we all go in separately.”

Esper just nods numbly, more interested in the interior. His eyes dart over the darkness-bathed walls, coloured some soft shade of yellow? green? It’s hard to say with the unhelpful light. They pass numerous doors, some with golden plaques that Esper can’t even begin hoping to read.

He follows after Lusa silently, his feet padding over the plush carpet without a single sound. He hunches his shoulders unconsciously, trying to make himself appear smaller.

There’s just something he does not like about hallways. He’s fine with narrow backstreets, those always have at least two escape routes, but hallways, those never fail to make him uneasy.

He anxiously waits for them to arrive where Lusa is leading them.

It doesn’t take long for Lusa to recognise the tension in Esper’s shoulders. He keeps a discreet side eye on him, taking into discussing the types of animals they’ve had come here, particularly about a cat named Mr. Sparkles.

The distractions seems to work some, at least, as they’ve come to the back of the place, a room with a black door one side, and a white door that says 'back entrance’. The Black door is just tilted open, warm light flooding through the crack.

Lusa kicks off his shoes, picks them up, enters through the door, then haphazardly dumps them into one of the many shoe sizes cubes cut out of the wall. Like cubby holes, with a name attached to each.

“You’ll get one of these soon too!” Lusa assures. He beams a smile back at Esper, closes the door behind them and listens to it pop shut. Lusa paces himself up the stairs while he chatters.

“Don’t worry about breaking anything— I mean, don’t go smashing vases for fun, but it can easily be replaced!”

It probably sounds like a bragging right, but once they come to the top of the stairs, they’re both met with a large common room. Plush sofas, coffee tables, bookcases and a stereo system fill the room. Rugs of fine stitching, exotic plants, a warm cracking fire place and an overly-expensive looking chandelier hangs down from the ceiling.

There’s more useless and unneeded decoration and a needless amounts of gaming consoles neatly packed away in glass cabinets. It’s excessive and doesn’t appear to fit the two at all.

“This is where the family spend their time, mostly. So it’s a little… noisy here, at times?” He guides them through the mass of expensive furniture, going through an open archway on the other side, through a foyer which splits into two corridors. Lusa leads them away though, into the door in the centre. Like before, Lusa provides a pin, a scan, a card and his fingerprint before the door opens, revealing what can practically be defined as a luxurious apartment.

“Welcome to your new home, Esper!”

Esper stands in the doorways, holding tightly onto his battered sneakers and looking around with wide eyes.

He takes in all the pretty yet minimalistic decoration, the view of the city through the fullwall windows, the polished surfaces of the shelves and the pristineness of the whole place. He truly feels out of place.

“You live here?” he asks incredulously.

The apartment is huge, way bigger on the inside than anyone could’ve guessed from looking at the building. And by the looks of the halls, there are more than this one. He distantly wonders how it is possible, to cram all this space into one building.

Lusa laughs heartedly, and gently pries Esper’s shoes away from him, plopping them into the mat beside the door. He’ll clean up any mess that’s fallen off of them later.

He softly gestures for Esper to follow, smile breaking wide at Esper’s bewilderment around the places. Tt pangs him though; though Lusa understands that next to no one is fortunate enough to live as grandly as the two do, the poor boy seems fascinated at the mere carpet beneath his feet, the warmth of the place… Just what hell has this guy been through?

“Masi! We’re coming in!” He doesn’t even wait, bursting Esper and himself through the bedroom and into the bathroom, to find a shirtless Masi, hair in a messy bun, finely fixing the bath up.

He stands and tisks in irritation at the unneeded burst in.

“Knocking would be a wonderful skill for you to learn, Lusa.” He shoots a dull glare at the bulk, no menace behind it. His eye catches Esper behind him, looking incredibly uneasy. Masi smiles softly and makes a slow approach towards him.

“Sorry, was Lusa being too loud again?” Lusa only laughs loudly as if to confirm this, “Regardless, the bath is ready now, so let’s just—” Masi lightly starts to tug at the bottom of Espers shirt, starting to pull it up, “—take off these clothes and get you in there—”

Esper’s breath hitches, catches in his throat as his whole body goes rigid. He stares down at Masi’s hand, which is holding onto the smudged edge of his shirt, and he instinctively tries to back off.

Masi’s grip is harder than he had anticipated, though, and he’s not able to tale even a step backwards.

_What, what, what, what, what—_

His brain effectively shuts down, too overwhelmed with sudden fear and confusion.

“No!” he cries out, curling a hand around Masi’s. “No, no, no, no, no! No, no, no…” His voice breaks and trails off into silence again.

His fingers are trembling, he notes as he keeps looking down. Realizing he’s holding onto the hand still, he lets go as if it had burned him. His other arm curls around his stomach protectively and he hangs his head down, trying to regulate his breathing and stop himself from spilling tears as he waits for the inevitable blow.

Masi doesn’t understand, too shocked by the sudden change in reaction to process that he’s still holding on. It isn’t until Esper’s body shakes and practically crumbles beneath him that he immediately retracts his hand and backs off. Lusa attempts to get closer to Esper but he leans a hand out to gesture for him to move backwards with him.

They watch as Esper falls, a whimpering mess, and immense guilt builds within Masi’s stomach. He mentally slaps himself. He needs to focus on Esper right now.

He sits down, still a distance away from Esper. Lusa follows quickly after him.

“Esper, breathe deeply. Focus on me okay? In, hold… and out—”

Lusa observes the ritual Masi uses on him during these rare moments. Though he isn’t as hysterical, he still has his moments. Lusa mutters Esper’s name soothingly, whispering soft 'it’s okay’s just loud enough for the other to hear. He wants to reach out and wrap himself around the boy, he’s sure Masi wants to as well, but it was contact that engaged this, which means he needs space right now. He’ll come to them when he’s ready.

Esper cowers in front of them, arms clutched around his head as if to protect himself.

“I’m sorry,” he whimpers quietly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t…”

His heart hammers in his chest and the tears that he’d so vehemently tried keeping at bay flow down his cheeks freely. He keeps staring at the tiled floor, though he tries following Masi’s instructions.

He fails horribly; all he manages is small sobs.

Should they come closer? Leave Esper to himself? These dilemmas run through both of their heads, how can they help him? Being close caused this, but right now he looks like he needs all the comfort he can get.

“Esper, how can we help you?” It’s a silly question, Lusa knows. Esper can hardly breathe, how do they expect him to answer?

Masi takes a gamble and very slowly, very gently, takes a hold of one the sobbing boy’s hand.

Esper stills, a whimper dying somewhere on the tip of his tongue. His hand trembles in Masi’s loose hold and he just stares at it for a long while.

The other doesn’t move, doesn’t yank him up, doesn’t yell, and Esper is simply stupefied. His gaze slowly travels up towards the man’s face, locked in a concerned frown, and he shakily inhales, making a hiccuping sound.

“Why…” His voice gives out, flat out breaks for a moment. He clearns his throat. “Why did you want me… naked, if you’re not going to…?” He almost chokes on another sob as his trembling worsens.

“To… bathe you… You’re to remove your clothes, wash your body, then put on clean clothes, I suppose.” Masi swallows, he cannot help but fear why the concept of stripping would frighten Esper so much, could it be that he was..?

“Esper, we weren’t gonna hurt ya, we’ll never hurt ya…” Lusa moves closer now, close to Esper but not invading his space.

“You don’t have to if ya don’t want to, but it’ll feel nice to clean up!” Lusa tries changing his tone to a more pepper one, as if Esper will be able to catch onto his friendliness, understand they have no intention of harming him.

“If you’d like, neither of us will touch you. You can take this bath and Lusa and I will have one after, if you’d prefer?”

Esper gulps and nodly shakily, gazing straight into Masi’s unwavering eyes.

“Is that… okay?”

Masi gives a warm smile and nods, squeezing at the hand lightly.

“Of course, I’ll just tell you where a few things are. Careful when you get in the bath, it’s quite hot, and any open cuts you have may sting a little. The shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and body wash are all on that shelf besides the bath.” Masi lets go of the hand, standing and stretching, grabbing his shirt and slipping it back on. He can tolerate a day’s old clothing a little longer.

“Esper, we’ll leave the door slightly open, just so we can hear you if you call us, of which, please do call us if you need help with anything. Use any towel you can see.”

Masi removes himself away from Esper’s vicinity, waiting for Lusa to follow him out.

The muscled bulk rises, and very softly ruffles the other’s hair, a pang of pain when he sees how starch white the boys roots are. He though the boys hair was a dull grey, but it appears that’s only due to condition it’s been left in. He notices how long the other boys hair is too. He’ll have to suggest ways of convincing Esper to let Masi cut it for him.

“Play with my duck if ya want! He’s pretty fun to watch bob around!” Lusa also gives a warm smile to Esper, before leaving with Masi, door slightly ajar as they said it would be.

Esper’s tense shoulders drop and he relaxes unconsciously. The silence is a little strange, but not uncomfortable. He slowly picks himself off the floor, immediately feeling a stab of anger at being frightened.

Again.

And so easily.

He shakes his head, gives regards to whatever deity had allowed him to come out of this unscathed, and looks around the room. He slowly takes off his clothes, hissing a little when he has to pry the fabric away from a small scab on his thigh.

Tentatively, he steps into the bathtub, goosebumps rising on his skin at the temperature. It’s just shy of scalding him, and he shivers when he submerges his whole body in the giant tub. A floaty feeling envelopes him in the water, something he’d never felt before, and he closes his eyes for a moment.

It feels like he’s dreaming, floating somewhere, and he’s oh-so-warm.

“Ahh,” he moans quietly when he opens his eyes again. He moves his hand a little under the surface, revels in the feeling of water parting for it to pass.

His eyes catch something yellow on the shelf, a small toy. Lusa’s duck, maybe? He reaches out for it, drips the water all over the tiles in the process.

He gently places it onto the surface, shirting forward so he can look at it a little more closely. The small toy bobs around with the waves created by him, and when he grabs a little too hard to stop it from floating away out of his reach, it emits a high-pitched squeak.

He pokes the toy around, squeezes a whole lot, even tries to see if it squeaks underwater. It doesn’t, to his great disappointment.

Somewhere along the way, his eyes start getting droopy, and his whole body aches for sleep. The toy keeps him awake, though, for some reason as fascinating as the meaning of life to him.

It takes a while, Lusa and Masi make idle chatter in their bedroom. It’s an unspoken rule, but they hardly ever talk about the more dark side of their jobs in here. They understand it’s morally wrong, but it ensures power and the money they need to achieve their future goals.

Masi is sat cross legged on their bed, comb idly pulling out the knots and kinks within his hair. Lusa sits on a sofa near one of the bookshelves in the corner; he lightly strums a guitar.

“I should probably learn to play this…” he mutters more to himself than anything. He doesn’t want to play too loudly, startling Esper is the last thing he wants.

“You can play piano, violin and flute, why learn another when you don’t even play the integuments you know?”

“ _You_ can play violin and flute, _I_ can only play piano. I wanna something nice, it’s romantic isn’t it? Serenading someone?” They bicker to each other in a friendly atmosphere, Lusa focusing more on the other’s fingers slowly untangling his hair rather than what he’s actually trying to play.

Putting the guitar down, Lusa jumps up from his seat, pattering over to the bathroom door and pressing his ear against the slightly parted opening. He’s sure he heard Dio squeak in the tub earlier, his most favourable duck’s squawk something he’ll always distinguish.

He takes to peaking through the crack, just to see if the other is alright.

“How is he?”

Lusa turns to see Masi has stopped brushing, and is instead focusing on Lusa’s movements.

“He looks like he’ll fall asleep soon. Guess we’ll either wait until he comes out or wait until he’s asleep before moving him…”

Masi hums in confirmation, there’s not much else they can do for the boy, they don’t exactly have the food to feed him in the current state he’s in. He’ll need something easy to swallow and light, so he won’t get sick. And after his 'meal’, they’re not sure if Esper is still hungry.

“We’ll figure out all of the nitty gritty stuff later, right now, guess we’ll just wait,” Lusa speaks, he can tell when Masi is overthinking something, and the other tisks in annoyance at being read so easily. How irritable.

The duck slowly floats away, bouncing against the side of the tub as Esper leans backwards, resting his wight against the edge. The cool ceramic feels rather pleasant against the warmth that surrounds him.

His eyes close on their own and he curls up a little on his side, knees brought out of the water and up to his chest.

He drifts to sleep without the lingering fear in the back of his mind, for once.

It takes a few more minuets to realise that Esper is completely asleep. Just in case, Lusa knocks on the door softly, and enters when there’s no response.

He sighs; the poor boy didn’t even know how to wash his hair, and most of his body by the looks of it. He calls Masi in, quietly as to not wake Esper. They both do their best to scrub his hair and body clean without waking him up. It appears Esper will be knocked out for a few hours, if the bags under his eyes are anything to go by.

After Esper’s hair is white, and his pale skin is just as pearly, they lift him from the bath, wrap towels around him, and slowly carry him to their room.

Lusa begins to dry the other’s hair, resting Esper’s head against his lap as the towel moves in soft circular motions over the other’s hair. He’s delighted when soft hums leave Esper’s pasty lips.

Masi makes work of drying Esper’s body, inspecting it with dexterous fingers. They move over scars, burn marks, disfigured bones and black fingernails. Who did this to him, and why? The boy is practically a walking shell, a broken one; normally a body couldn’t have developed in these conditions without death, what maintained his body when he was growing up? Clearly these effects have been going on for several years.

Masi places his curiosity at bay, and ends up dressing wounds and disinfecting any cuts and scrapes Esper has. Once done and clothed, they move the boy into the covers of their own bed. They could move him into one of the spare bedrooms, but they aren’t sure if Esper would want to wake up alone in an unfamiliar room.

After ensuring the boy is tucked in, they both make their way to the bathroom for their own long, overdue bath. They dim the lights to the room, and take their leave. They’d be next to Esper soon anyway.

Masi closes the door to the bedroom after them, trying to give Esper some quiet.

He takes his shirt off again, sighing out at the much-needed relief from the itchy fabric. He tosses it into the hamper, his pants and boxers following right after.

He leans over the tub, hand hovering over the row of bottles, before craning his head back and tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear.

“Would you like bubbles today?” he asks the berserker.

Lusa, midway through tugging his shirt over his head, smirks.

“No, not today, I’d like to see your body clearly.”

Of course, Lusa is bashfully wearing a tint of blush on his cheeks as he blatantly flirts. He finishes stripping, scruffily dumping his clothes in an unfolded pile.

Once naked, he dunks himself into the tub alongside his partner. He leans in close, personal space between the two long forgotten.

Lusa presses a delicate kiss to Masi’s shoulders, grinning up at him as the other blushes. He offers out a hand.

“Pass the shampoo and I’ll do ya hair, I’m getting pretty good at it now, right?”

Mastermind snorts, but passes the bottle to his partner nonetheless. “A little practice doesn’t mean you get to brag like this, you know,” he chastises. There’s absolutely no heat in heat in his words, however.

He turns around in the tub in slightly jerky moves, hiding his reddened cheeks from the other’s amused sight. Whatever, it’s just because of the steam.

He settles between Lusa’s legs, angles his head upwards to allow Lusa good access to his hair. “But yes,” he mutters, glancing off at the wall with a pout, “you are getting good at it.”

Lusa laughs heartedly. Masi can be so childishly adorable at times. This is a supposed 'prodigy’ here, which no doubt he is, but seeing him in these moments lets Lusa know just how human he actually is.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry for teasing~” Lusa sniggers, presses himself closer than what’s considered needed to simply wash the others hair.

Lusa opens the bottle he’d been given, squirting a generous amount onto both his palms, lathering it across up to his fingers, and starts to run them through Masi’s dampened hair. He pressed the pads of his fingertips against the other’s scalp, light pressure to ease any headaches that may have been forming.

A pleased sigh leaves the mastermind’s lips, his shoulders relaxing fully. He almost becomes putty in Lusa’s hands.

Lusa really is great at this. There’s no need to fuel his ego further by telling him, though.

His body betrays his thoughts, however. He sways with Lusa’s movements, completely leaving himself to the other while he voices his content at the pleasure with small hums and sighs.

He cranes himself backwards further and leans up, holding onto the edge of the tub and pressing a kiss to the other’s jaw.

“A little lower,” he purrs.

A timid hitch of breath chokes Lusa momentarily. He gasps, though quickly composed himself. A grin breaks his lips.

“How much lower?” he whispers huskily in response, fingers kneading over his back now, while another meets the long-haired man’s shoulder.

Masi keeps looking up, even though his neck starts aching really fast. He matches Lusa’s grin and slides backwards until his back presses against Lusa’s toned chest.

“How much lower are you willing to go, Lusa?” he asks, voice dropping an octave, and the name not much more than a heavy breath leaving his lips. He licks them unconsciously, willing Lusa to actually kiss him.

Another hitched breath, and a low groan at the press of the other close to him, escape Lusa before he realises his throat allowed them to pass.

Biting at his own lips, he unshamefully ruts up against Mastermind, his cock twitching at the friction and stimulation. He stops his hips once he gathers a hold of himself. He instead takes to tracing Masi’s lips, biting them gently, tugging at them and mouthing over their plush warmth. He fully presses his lips towards the other, licking at the seam and the shape of them, eagerly greedy for more.

He pulls away with a soft pop for a minute, hot breath fanning over Masi’s face. Lusa has a hard time focusing his eyes. Masi’s hair is a mess, cheeks flushed, lips swollen and glistening with the saliva Lusa put there, and those darkened lidded eyes—

Lusa breaths out roughly.

“So low down that all you can comprehend is my name and how good I’m making you feel.”

Masi’s whole body shudders at the words whispered into his ear, and he hangs his head forward again, relieving the ache in his neck.

He chuckles quietly, looking at the door momentarily. “I’m still comprehending many things,” he says, his tone strangely unsuited for an atmosphere such as this one.

But it’s true; his head is still filled with now-useless info on their last customers, the worry about how their beauties’ mission, the worry about the new kitty that had to be taken away by a family member for fulltime care, the worry and curiosity about Esper; the pure stress of the day weighing on his lithe shoulders. He knows Lusa knows, which is why he doesn’t keep up the tough act when they’re together like this.

He’d have taken Lusa’s offer in the morning already, but now? Now he needs it.

“Make me forget everything, Lusa,” he breathes, and then so quietly the water splashing would be enough to overpower it, he adds a, “please.”

Sympathy ebbs into Lusa. Mastermind has a tendency to place a lot of weight upon himself, stress over things that don’t have a hundred percent success rate. It’s simply how he is, and Lusa wouldn’t change a single aspect of him, he’s utterly perfect to the other.

It’s clear, he can’t take all these burdens away from the other, but he can temporarily silence them. Lusa grunts, nods, and leans in to latch at Masi’s neck, sucking and biting down, a mark surely to rise later. He nurtures the skin within his lips, flicking his tongue over while sucking, gentle nibbling and eliciting groans of pleasure.

Lusa changes his path, working up the neck softly, his bites becoming soft kisses when they’ve reached his ear.

“Always, for as long as you need me,” he sighs against the shell, “Let me delve you into such pleasure that bliss will be all you’ll feel until you close your eyes.”

Lusa strokes his hands down the others chest sensually, teasing nipples and moulding around muscle. His hands rest on Masi’s inner thighs.

“What do you want me to do to you?”

“Fuck…” Masi sighs. He arches into Lusa’s hands and barely resists bucking when the other’s hands settle on his skin.

He bites into his kiss-swollen bottom lip, groaning a little. He doesn’t have any clear ideas in his head like usual, it’s all just a hazy fog of want.

“Anything,” he answers breathlessly, “Everything.”

Closing his eyes, Masi focuses on the familiar touch of Lusa’s tands on his thighs, warm in the water and even warmer when he moves them. The parts of his body the berserker touches feel like they’ve been lit on fire. He relaxes in Lusa’s hold and leans his weight against him, allowing the other to move him as he wishes. “Do whatever you want.”

Hands shift, moulding up Mastermind’s thighs, so close to where he stands erect yet teasingly avoiding it.

“I’ll take care of you…”

Lusa’s tongue darts out, taking long laps up the others neck, butterfly kisses accompany his feverish licks occasionally. He speaks in a soft tone, tender and hushed, “As always, tell me if I’m going too fast, if anything hurts, if we need to stop.”

He tilts Masi’s head back to lock their eyes together, warmth practically radiating from his being, irises peppered with so much love that his lips curve back into a giddy smile. "I love you.”

He presses his lips firmly against Masi’s, tongue breaking past the other’s lips and into his mouth, rolling and dancing around the other’s. Tip of tongue flick over teeth and move in circular motions along Masi’s, humming at the sweet taste.

One of Lusa’s settled hands comes up to wrap around Masi’s length, so hard that the head peeks out from the water. He starts to pump, the crude sloshing breaking up the sloppy smack of their lips and gasps for breath.

Masi arches into the touch sharply — finally, _finally_! — and twists his head away to let out a drawn-out, low moan. It’s followed immediately by a string of not very coherent whines, bubbling up from the depths of his throat.

“I—” he gasps, trying to regulate his breathing. It’s a fruitless task, Lusa’s warmth and the pleasure that the other brings with every movement, every single action, has his body as excited as his mind is at hearing those words from Lusa’s mouth every single time. “—love you! Too!”

He tries keeping his voice as low as he can, but the cacophony of the splashing water, Lusa’s unceasing kisses and nips and his own, undignified sounds make it hard to judge how loud they’re being. He raises a hand up to his mouth and splashes the water all across the tiles and wall in process. He bites down on the back of it, muffling his next long moan when Lusa drags the pad of his thumb across the head of his arousal and his whole body shudders with the electric sparks.

“Lusa—!” he gasps, lust dripping from his voice just like the saliva escaping the corner of his mouth. He can’t even breathe properly, much less swallow it all.

His hips seem to develop a mind of their own, bucking up into Lusa’s pace and making even more water splash around them. He’s sure they’re going to flood watever poor room happens to be underneart them.

“Lusa, l— Lusa…” Mastermind takes a few deep, shaky breaths, tries to find the voice that he’d seemed to lose for a moment there. “Let me— turn around. I— want to kiss you properly…”

Quicker than either of them can process, Lusa moves Masi around, placing his legs over his own. He presses their hips close together and hastily grabs them both with his hand, squeezing themselves against one another as they grind into his hand, their pre-cum mingling.

Lusa pants, hard, resting his forehead against Masi’s as he grunts, bites his lip, kisses at the scar, anything— just get close to him. Lusa ‘s blathered out 'I love you’s dot marks over untouched patches of Masi’s skin. He feels on fire right now, the warmth pulsating hard through his veins.

“Masi- _fuck_ -m'close, shit I’m close, you? Does it— good?”

Mastermind nods hastily, the movement making wet strands of hair fly all around and stick to his heated skin. His hands grip at Lusa’s shoulders, holding on for dear life.

He was right, he was completely right.

Lusa is the only thing on Masi’s mind, the berserker is the only one his muddled brain can concentrate on. His damp hair falling into his face, no longer held up by gel, his magenta eyes, half lidded and misty with lust and love, his swollen, red lips, he notices everything about Lusa and nothing else.

“Fuck!” he exclaims, squeezing his eyes as a shudder wracks his body. “Lusa, Lusa, Lusa!”

He presses their lips together again, a lot more tenderly than before, and a lot more tenderly than either of them as moving.

“I’m gonna— Lusa- I’m close, so good, so fucking good… You’re so good, you’re the best, you’re the fucking best!” Masi sobs, voice catching in his throat as the pleasure peaks, Lusa’s hand and warmth around him the only tangible things in the whole world.

“Hhn!!” he whines, turning it into a breathless moan as he arches his back like a bow and comes, white splattering across their abdomens while darkness overtakes his mind for a moment.

It’s too much for Lusa, hearing such unguarded praise, the utter wrecked value of Masi’s voice, the way he curves his spine and as cum paints their chests.

He can't—

“Masi—! F-uu-ck Masi, shit, so beautiful, so g-good-fu-Masi!” Lusa’s hand strokes them both with vigour, circling over the tip, squeezing periodically and fondling their slits. He can’t, it’s too much—

“Nnnguh-!” Lusa tilts his head forward, buries his face against Masi’s shoulder and bites down, muffling his cries; he cums. His hips jerk as he spurts his seed over them to join Masi’s, breaths ragged and torn. He rides them both out of their orgasms, hand slowing down.

He ever so gently tilts Mastermind back with his back against him, using a warm cloth to delicately wipe away their semen. He presses light kissies against Masi’s shoulder while he does so, sighing contently while he slowly cleans the other.

“Love you, Masi…” he mumbles, tired and content, but it doesn’t hide the love that flows from his words.

“I love you too, Lusa,” Masi replies immediately, his voice a little raspy from so much moaning.

He soaks in the moment, the warm and content feeling and Lusa’s pure love that he’s lucky enough to have.

Whoever said that criminals can’t find true love was a fucking idiot.

He catches Lusa’s empty hand and entwines their fingers softly. Watching the connected digits is oddly satisfying. “We don’t have anything scheduled for tomorrow, except beauties’ return and a routine count. What say you, want to spend the day in tomorrow?”

Lusa watches the sentiment; he too enjoys viewing their hands intertwined.

“Yeah, I’d love that.”

He chuckles when Masi starts to nod off after a few more moments of cleaning the other. Lusa makes quick work of his own hair and body, then carries his very sleepy partner from the bath, and wraps a towel around him. Weird, he’s already done this once today, hasn’t he?

Lusa pulls the plug, he’ll worry about properly rinsing the bath tomorrow. He flicks the light off and shuts the door.

Gently, as he did with Esper, he helps Masi into sleepwear. It’s a little easier since the other is semi-awake, and lazily raises body parts when asked. Once he’s done, he changes himself, tucking both of them under their covers, warm from where Esper has been laying in them for about an hour now.

With a fond sigh, he turns the lights off and goes to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Masi’s in the kitchen, come on in, but-” he bites his lip, unsure how to exactly tell them. “We’ve taken someone in, we found him last night in anunusual state. He doesn’t look the healthiest, and he has some past trauma, so, be a little gentle?”
> 
> “Lusa-loo, you make it sound like we’re a pack of panthers,” Dia giggles from Mami’s side, clinging to one of her arms as she happily nuzzles against her, personal space an oblivious concept.
> 
> “Well, you’re not far off…” Lusa mutters under his breath, earning a firm friendly punch from Luna at his remark. That’s sure to leave a bruise.

The sensations of consciousness slowly start to part through Masi’s dream state, breaking up the black behind his eyelids and making them aware of the sunlight bleeding in through them.

His eyelids stick together; he pries them open and the eyelashes peel apart. He would comment on how disgusting the sensation feels, but he can’t quite comprehend what’s even going on at the moment. He lets his eyes shut for a while, letting the sounds of birds, cars, the ticking of their clock and of course, the in-sync breathing of his two companions wash over him.

Two? That isn’t right. Masi doesn’t feel like there shouldn’t be two though.

He finally opens them fully this time, head tilted to the right to find Lusa. That’s natural, he’s always here. He slowly moves his head to the left, whimpering a little at the ache it gives from the awkward position.

Ah, there’s the second. He’s forgotten about this boy, this poor mistreated boy. Masi smiles and tries to raise his hand to brush away hair from their faces, but two sets of arms clamping his own firmly against himself makes that impossible.

He smiles though. He was aware it was a habit of Lusa’s, but learning this about Esper made it feel like a small victory. So Esper does like sleeping with company.

Masi sighs. He can’t move, and he certainly doesn’t want to awaken Esper, he looks like he needs all the sleep he can get. He once more tilts his head to Lusa. Ah, how he loves the man’s natural hair, so fluffy even without the gel. There’s drool hanging out of Lusa’s mouth, which is oddly endearing to him.

A quick glance over Lusa’s head tells him it’s 9 o'clock. Right. The beauties will be arriving within the hour, time to at least look presentable.

“Lusa— Lusa! Wake up!” Masi hisses in a hushed whisper, he doesn’t want to awaken Esper after all.

“Mmkay lemme jus’ fin'sh th’…”

Masi frowns, of course. Lusa’s never easy to wake up, he’s like a bear during hibernation, but there’s no time for this.

Masi kicks him out of the bed, hard.

The other ends up landing as ungracefully as humanly possible, legs and arms sprawled in all directions. Lusa jolts up.

“Masi what the actual f—”

Masi shoots him a sharp look and tilts his head back to gesture to a somehow-still-sleeping Esper.

Lusa stands and stretches, his back popping with a satisfied grunt. Lusa places himself back onto the bed, sitting cross legged, and pouts.

“Masi… You didn’t have to kick me.”

“Did I hurt you?”

“Yeah,” he admits, showing a reddened elbow, “a little.”

Masi frowns, he hadn’t meant to physically hurt the other. The kick wasn’t even supposed to move the other by much. Guess he’s not so fully awake himself to interpret his own strength.

Masi very delicately detaches himself from Esper, his hold not as firm as Lusa’s. He scoots himself up and close to the other, placing a gentle kiss onto Lusa’s lips. His hands cup the berserker’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t intentional.”

Lusa breaks into a grin stealing another kiss.

“I guess the only acceptable apology would be ya treating me to pancakes.”

Masi rolls his eyes but smiles anyway, tilting a gaze back to Esper. They’d be ready by the time the other is awake.

Masi and Lusa both clamber off the bed and neatly tuck the covers around the other, exiting the room, door slightly ajar in case he calls, and a scribbled note left of the pillow next to Esper. They open windows, draw back curtains and boil the kettle, getting ready for the day.

There’s warmth. Esper’s muddy, sleep-laced brain might not be the best at perception, but after years of light sleep and making sure he wouldn’t be surprised by an awakening, it’s unsurprisingly capable of taking notes even when Esper himself is still deep in his sleep.

The mental note changes from ‘there’s warmth’ to 'there _was_ warmth’. The boy mumbles something unintelligible under his breath and curls a little more on his side, arms tightening around the—

He blinks awake, brain trying to play catch up with his senses as he awakens fully. He tightens his hold on the bundle of a blanket before letting it go, staring at its bunched surface. He could’ve sworn- he could have sworn it felt like he was holding someone. A part of them; not the whole person, maybe just a limb. His stomach growls as he thinks about it.

He kicks the blanket off of himself and then, rather belatedly, stares at it with confusion. Where is he? He has to look around the room twice for it to become a little familiar, the soft rays of sunshine seeping in through the blinds providing a different light than there had been last night. He doesn’t remember getting back to the room, in fact— he doesn’t remember anything past soaking in the water. His whole body feels light, thought, and when he moves to sit up, a restricting feeling flares on a few parts of his body.

He checks his stomach to see bandages wrapped around his skin tightly. For a moment, he feels the overwhelming urge to check under them – what if there are new injuries hidden behind a veil of drugs-

He’s not drugged. His mind is sharp and concentrated, which is a good thing.

He stands from the bed, already missing its warmth and softness, and slowly pats his way out of the room. He isn’t sure how the other men want to be addressed or greeted, so he keeps to standing quietly in the doorway, watching them until they take a notice of him.

“You never put enough milk into the mixture, that’s why they’re like dried slop,” Masi quips as he elegantly pours the mixture into a sizzling frying pan. He tilts it around so the mixture covers the entire bottom. “ _And_ you insist on flipping it before it’s barely cooked on the one side.”

“But it looks cool when I nail it, right?”

Mastermind sighs, getting a spatula ready to flip it over. Lusa may want to experiment with his fancy pancake flipping skills, but Masi personally enjoys not having to scrape dried bits of pancake off the ceiling.

“Can you go wake Esper, please? They’ll be ready soon.”

“I’m on it.” Lusa pulls away from his seat around the kitchen island, intending to go to their bedroom when he spots Esper stood awkwardly by the doorway. Lusa offers him a cheery smile, stepping close to him, but not so much to invade his space.

“Morning, Esper! Did you sleep well?”

“Morning,” Esper replies, ducking his head in a nod.

He feels the urge to apologize that they had to haul him out of the bath, but since it hadn’t been mentioned, he bites down on the words instead, feeling their weight fading from the back of his throat as he forces himself to not think about them.

He tries returning Lusa’s smile; he’s not sure how well he does, but it tugs on his cheeks and feels nice.

Lusa’s smile softens from a bright to a caring smile, he gestures to the island behind him, three plates with accompanying cutlery already laced out whist the other was asleep.  

“We’re having pancakes, and Masi’s the best at making them, would you like some?”

Esper nods again, not one to decline food. He’d be lying if he said the sweet smell wafting throughout the room wasn’t making his mouth water.

He seats himself where he’s shown and digs in as soon as Masi’s done, shoveling forkful after forkful into his mouth.

The spark in his eyes would probably be more than enough to tell the others what he thinks of the meal, but he throws in a 'delicious!’ every time his mouth is empty.

Lusa watches in awe. How did someone so frail gulp down so much? He has competition.

“Masi! Bet I can eat more than Esper!

"Sure, if you’re eager to receive a sugar crash later and torturous stomachaches, be my guest.” The sarcasm practically drips from his unimpressed tone. Though he does feel a little flattered that the other two are so eager to eat his cooking.

With a sigh and an 'I’ll go make another batter’, Masi pushes himself up, grabs his apron, and sets back to making another mixture.

“Have you ever had pancakes before, Esper?” His previously annoyed voice is soft now. He’s still unsure what tone Esper feels comfortable around, he’ll understand over time, but right now he wants to approach the other as gently as possible.

Esper leans on the table and starts swinging his legs back and forth unconsciously, dragging his toes across the plush carpet.

“No,” he says, shaking his head softly even though Masi is turned away from him and can’t see. He’s full, and even though Lusa had declared the competition, he doesn’t think he could eat a single bite more without throwing up.

“But I bet none are better than yours.”

Masi smiles wider at the comment, other than Lusa and the beauties on occasion, no one ever compliments his cooking. Pride swells within him.

“I wouldn’t say the best, as Lusa makes the most divine cheesecakes and tarts, don’t you?”  

Lusa chokes a little around his mouthful of pancake, a blush creeping over his cheeks, he averts his eyes, taking sudden interest in the seasoning rack on the other side of the counter. He swallows.

“Well…They’re _okay_ —”

“Oh hush, they’re delightful and you’re aware of this too, no need to be so modest.” Masi sits back down with the other two after flicking the oven off, two more pancakes stacked on his plate. Unlike the other two, he’s only had four, including the two on his plate. He likes to actually taste his food oddly enough, as opposed to practically drinking it.

After Lusa gets over his shyness at being so blatantly complimented, he leans over to Esper, taking his empty plate and stacking it atop his. The clack of their used knives and forks sharply break up silence of the room. Lusa softly speaks:

“Esper, our beauties come home in a little under twenty minutes, would you like to meet them?”

Esper cocks his head to the side a little, his side bangs falling into his eyes so he has to brush them aside.

“Beauties?” he asks, turning to Masi as if for an explanation.

“Beauties,” Lusa confirms with a nod. “They manage our more… disapproved income, ensure it stays under the radar, that we have the correct amount of stocks, inform us when it’s best to sell, y'know, handy stuff.”

The boy has no idea what Masi is talking about again, but he nods here and there.

Lusa gathers the plates after everyone is finished, rising to take them to the sink where he washes them up. It’s the least he can do considering Mastermind cooked for them.

“They’re really nice, or, the more tolerable of some. Ah- Lusa, please pour the tea?”

He’d forgotten about the brewing tea in the pot. He’s unsure if Esper would like the substance; it’s a soothing brew though, so the least it’ll do is soothe the other.

“Esper, would ya’ be okay with Masi cutting your hair? And later, we were going to go out and buy you some clothes, but we don’t know what’ll fit you so, would ya come with us?”

Esper lets out a small, confused noise at Lusa’s words. Without really noticing it, he ducks his head and starts twirling a strand of his hair around a finger, tugging occasionally. He ceases kicking his legs.

“If you want to, I don’t mind,” he says softly. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

Masi thanks Lusa once he brings them the tea he’d forgotten about, and speaks over the rim of the cup.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, simply wondering if you wanted it trimmed and shaped a bit more, so it’s out of your eyes a little. I won’t cut it too short, you’d still be able to tie it back if you wished. If you’d like it as long as mine then that’s also doable, but we’d need to cut it regularly to avoid split ends. Naturally, this is all your choice.”

Lusa sighs as he plops back down beside the two, taking a big gulp of his own tea.

“You’re overkillin’ it Masi. Esper, d'ya want your hair long like Masi’s, short like mine, or a little in between?”

Esper is quite thankful for Lusa speaking up, because he was once again getting lost in Masi’s words. That seems to happen often. He kind of wishes Masi didn’t speak like that, didn’t explain everything and use complex words and formalities- He doesn’t like that type of speech, it’s too… clinical.

He shakes his head a little to rid himself of the thoughts and looks up again. There isn’t much clinical about Masi, especially now that his cheeks are dusted with pink and he’s frowning at Lusa.

“In between?” he pipes, more of a question than the answer Lusa wanted. He doesn’t want his hair fully gone, no, he is too familiar with it and tugging at it and it whipping into his face. He’s not sure he’d feel right without that. But Masi had been right in that it keeps falling into his eyes, and truthfully that _is_ a little annoying.

“Perfect!” Lusa reaches out gently upon his exclamation, slowly his hand inches towards Esper. It stops short of him and waits, not advancing until the other makes curious eye contact with him. He ever so softly picks up the long strands of white on either side of Esper’s face.

“These are cute, Masi. Keep them in, and his cow licks, maybe trim them a little. Try-” He places the strands of hair he’s captures between two fingers in a snipping motion, “-this length?”

“I was thinking longer at the front to frame his face, trim his bangs so they look natural, while shorter at the back…”

A sharp knock at the door interrupts their musing, and both the men flinch. There’s only one person they know who knocks only once, firmly and with authority. The beauties must be here, and for them to come all the way up to their room clearly means they were late.

Masi tentatively looks at the clock behind him and groans. An entire hour late. He was so caught up in their chatter that he never noticed.

Lusa stands with a smile. He knows the last thing Mastermind needs in the morning is a lecture from three incredibly duteous women.

Lusa escapes from the kitchen and unlocks the door to their apartment. He gulps, and slowly opens the door.

“Good morning,” Mami says, not trying to hide the snide of her tone in the slightest, “is what I’d say, but it’s not morning anymore.”

From beside her, a pair of chuckles sounds, and Luna pushes the grumpy Mami out of the way so she can wrap her arms around Lusa. She leans up and whispers into his ear. “Don’t mind her. She isn’t even that mad about the time. She’s mostly angry because of the makeup we used to hide our marks. It was a bitch to take off, so don’t you dare comment on her red cheek, got it?”

She lets go and offers a huge grin and a wink, like she didn’t even tell him anything.

Mami’s lips form a frown, though she does move to hug Lusa as well. “You guys better be grateful, we are not doing anything undercover again,” she grumbles. “We missed you.”

Initial threat of having his face kicked in by three different sets of heels gone, Lusa sighs out a laugh of relief, soon bubbling into his usual hearty laugh. He ruffles Luna’s hair, fluffing up the already wild hair. It seems the beauties have taken to changing their hairstyles today; Luna’s is in a side ponytail, Mami’s in a neat bun, and Dia’s in two long braids. They probably did each others hair before their 'cover up’ session.

“Masi’s in the kitchen, come on in, but-” he bites his lip, unsure how to exactly tell them. “We’ve taken someone in, we found him last night in an _unusual_ state. He doesn’t look the healthiest, and he has some past trauma, so, be a little gentle?”

“Lusa-loo, you make it sound like we’re a pack of panthers,” Dia giggles from Mami’s side, clinging to one of her arms as she happily nuzzles against her, personal space an oblivious concept.

“Well, you’re not far off…” Lusa mutters under his breath, earning a firm friendly punch from Luna at his remark. That’s sure to leave a bruise.

“Take off your shoes, ya know what Masi’s like.” Lusa leans against the wall while he waits.

The girls leave their shoes at the door, Mami sighing out in relief as her whole soles step on the floor. Of course she had been the one to wear heels, never the one to trade 'the ability to scare people with just a single step’ for her personal comfort.

They make their way - they barge, but no one present will call it that - into the kitchen and Luna repeats the immediate hug with Masi.

Mami forgoes another remark about time as she takes notice of the other boy sitting at the table. He’s staring at them with wide eyes, furrowed brows and hands in his lap.

True to Lusa’s words, the boy doesn’t look the healthiest. With a body that thin and a look like that, Mami almost feels the urge to pet his head. Almost.

“Hello,” she greets the boy. “You’re new, right?”

If Esper had been able to breathe before, now he sure as hell can’t. It was more than a little bad to be looked at like that, but now she _spoke_ to him. He averted his eyes immediately, though he could still see her in his peripheral vision, with her hair up and her hawk-like eyes.

He looks to Lusa for help, because Lusa always helps, isn’t that right? Esper’s throat burns with the beginnings of bile.

“Mami~ you’re giving the boy cold feet,” Dia teases gently from Mami’s side, pulling herself closer to the other girl, clinging to the fabric of he coat while she grins into it. She understands the other is uncomfortable, but to what extent, she’s unsure of.

Masi tisks and pretends to be bothered by their presences, muttering a 'so noisy’ as if to punctuate this, though they know Masi well enough by now to know that he never means any malice with his words, that he’s simply awkward with affection and presents it in different forms. He rises from his seat to go fill the kettle up to serve the three girls their tea.

Lusa is laughing heartedly at their reactions, enjoying the warm atmosphere until his eyes finally catch Esper’s — they’re wide and filled to the very brim with fear, his lip even quivers a little. Lusa leans around the other discreetly, pretending to tuck a strand around the other’s ear while he leans in close and whispers kindly.

“Esper, you don’t have to say it here, you don’t have to say at all, but I’m right beside you. You can hold onto me if that makes you feel better, but you’re safe here, I promise.”

He pulls back and smiles reassuringly at the other, his hand very delicately lingering on his cheek and moving down to softly encourage the boy’s teeth biting painfully into his lips. He removes it a moment later and gives the other a nod of confirmation.

The girls watch with rising curiosity, Mami bringing an arm up to wrap around Dia as she snuggles her face into Mami’s coat.

“You’ve always had a weird taste,” she mutters quietly, stealing a teasing look at Masi by the counter.

Luna takes a seat meanwhile, leaning onto the table. Her knee brushes against Mami’s and they exchange small smiles.

“I’m Esper,” the boy says. He still doesn’t look at them; in fact, he’s pointedly looking at the wall, but whatever Lusa had told him must’ve helped him, because Mami noticed some of the tension ebbing away from his rigid shoulders.

“Welcome to the family,” she says, offering a warm smile that she’s sure he can see in the corner of his vision. It’s almost the same one she’d used during the covert operation. “I’m Mami. This is Luna and Dia,” she says, motioning to the other girls.

Dia raises her hand a little from her grasp at the other girl’s coat, smile mirthful and cunning, but no intent of evil behind it. That’s the most Dia greets the addition before she focuses her attention to twirling the free strands that messily fall down the side of Mami’s face, focused on the soft motion and texture of it.

Masi clears his throat, directing their attention. He focuses a smile towards Esper.

“These girls are mainly the face for us. They are mainly found downstairs, and they help organise our… circumstances, a lot.” He reaches over and holds out a hand, letting Esper choose if he wants to take it, “They’re here to help you too, Esper. Though they’re rather rowdy, they’re incredibly kind and trustworthy. You won’t regret opening up to them, but I’m sure they, along with us, understand that takes time.”

Lusa stretches over, ruffling Esper’s hair fondly; “There’s never a rush, Esper. Go at your own pace.”

Mastermind, after a few more seconds of fiddling, presents them all with freshly made tea, with the exception of Esper, whom he slides a hot chocolate to.

“It’s very hot, so be careful. Don’t worry about drinking it if you don’t like it, but I’m still unsure about what you prefer so I suppose I'm… experimenting?” Masi instantly regrets his words at the widening of the other’s eyes. He quickly makes to correct himself, “In terms of— to see if you like it or not, it shan’t harm you, simply… Simply getting to know you?”

Dia whines a muffled 'you’re making it worse’ from Mami’s coat, and from meeting Lusa’s gaze Mastermind can tell he’s only digging himself a larger hole.

“A-anyway…” He turns towards the girls, embarrassed at his lack of social skills, “How was it? Were you able to get any links from the other families? Any potential business offers?”

Esper wraps his hand around the mug tentatively, trying his hardest to keep his heartbeat in check. Not that he really can, but he tries, damn it.

He slowly raises it to his lips as Mami takes to answering the question.

“Mmhm, the Crows exchanged a list of possible contacts with us. There’s also a list of their old customers, you know, the ones that thought they could get away with not paying,” she says, gently nudging Dia away from her side so she could dig in her pockets. She pulls out a disposable phone and digs around some more, frowning. “Where did I-?”

Luna taps her shoulder with a small, half-crumpled piece of paper, and Mami presents both to Masi. “Thanks, darling. Here, the pass is on the paper, look through them when you have the time. Blake said he would pay handsomely if we got them the hides of these idiots.”

“We should look into that, it’d be nice to stay on good terms with the Crowsies,” Luna chuckles quietly.

They take to drinking their teas, but only after Luna dumps a few generous spoons of sugar into hers. Esper nurses his mug, watching as they talk about business, and observing the easygoing atmosphere between them all.

His fingers squeeze Lusa’s softly, the berserker’s hand big enough to hide his whole palm. He takes a small sip of the chocolate, and though he doesn’t voice it like he had done with the pancakes, his eyes light up again when he tastes the sweetness.

They chatter amongst themselves about business, but it soon delves into more friendly, family orientated topics. They bicker on late into the afternoon, the beverages long since drunk.

Dia, now stuck to Luna’s side, studies the newcomer with an unashamed gaze.

“Where are you from?” she asks.

Esper glances up from where he’s resting his head on the table and acknowledges Dia with a small, confused frown, his brows scrunched together to create a few wrinkles on the bridge of his nose.

“Someplace else,” he says, like it is the most obvious thing.

Dia nods, as if completely understanding, she even mutters a small 'I see’.

“Did you like it there?”

Lusa strokes his thumb over Esper’s hand, a reminder he’s still beside him. Dia had always been overly forward, and Lusa can’t help his own curiosity. He also wants to know about Esper, but he again reminds himself that that takes time, and a building of trust.

Masi and himself share a look or understanding. They’ll stop it if it gets out of hand, but for now it just seems like childish curiosity.

Esper averts his gaze, glances at Mami for a second. She had taken off her coat a while back, but her hair is still tied up and her gaze is still calculated and Esper still feels like she’ll start giving out orders any second. He lowers his eyes to the table when Mami’s gaze meets his momentarily.

Luna tightens the hold she has around Dia’s shoulders and readjusts her thigh to hold her up more comfortably. It’s also a subtle hint that if she keeps going like this, they’ll probably be kicked out of the apartment.

Esper shakes his head softly, to no one’s real surprise.

“I see,” Dia repeats. She knows she’s pushing boundaries now; Luna usually lets her flop herself all over her, but the adjusting in grip translates that she’s nervous. Dia thinks before her next statement.

Should she apologise? Should she ask further? She opens her mouth:

“Do you like it here?”

It’s not what she thought she’d ask, but she does want to know more about him. He looks like a curious figure and his appearance makes her ponder even more so.

Esper nods, this time without any thinking pause.

He squeezes Lusa’s hand back, focusing on how pleasantly grounding the alien gesture is.

Luna relaxes behind Dia a little, but none of them miss the subtle shift in the air. Mami looks on for a moment longer before she stands up, her gaze shifting from Esper to her girls.

“All right,” she says, “we’ve bothered you enough. I think it’s time to go, I’m itching for a bath and there’s work to do.” She looks at Masi and tucks a strand of her bangs behind an ear. “Let us know how the contacts turn out.”

She motions for the girls to come, nodding at the door a little.

Dia pouts but nods anyway, moving her arms to snake around Luna’s neck.

“Luna-loo, carry me~? My legs are tired from all the walking still…”

Mastermind tunes out and sighs, gratful at Mami’s quick wit to understand a tense situation. He rises, ready to walk the girls out, soon to find Dia indeed got her wish and is held carefully within Luna’s arms. He’s certain Lusa will stay beside Esper while they exit, but it doesn’t help his itch to know why the air was so tense.

He faces Mami, he needs to get back on topic. He nods his head towards her, a thanks.

“I shall look further into it, thank you for doing this, I understand it’s not exactly safe to demand meetings with other families.” He gives Esper one last smile before he walks with the girls to the door, a carried Dia offering a lazy wave towards the two men station in the kitchen.

Mami laughs quietly, tucking her hair away again and smiling at him in that knowing way of hers. “It’s okay, it’s better when we do it anyway. You two would’ve just started up a quarrel, no doubt,” she teases, completely disregarding the fact that Luna had punched someone’s teeth out while they were out.

The fact that Luna grins at, holding the more petite girl to her chest. It probably should’ve been a bit more embarrasing that Dia was practically smothering her face in her bossom, but she didn’t seem to mind one bit. “We’ll see you later, big boss,” she chimes.

“I’ll leave my phone on, just in case you need us,” is the last thing that Mami says. She doesn’t bother putting on her heels this time, just grabs them from besides the door and leads the way to their own place.

Masi mutters one last 'goodbye’, watching the door click shut. They never saw eye to eye at first, but now that they understand each other he realises just how much of a blessing the three of them are.

He re-enters the kitchen, spirits high. They lift even more so when he see’s Lusa showing off his completely unimpressive 'removable thumb’ trick to Esper. Said audience seems highly impressed though, which makes the scene even more adorable to behold.

“Having fun?” He smirks once Lusa jolts at his voice. He mustn’t have noticed he was there observing them.

“Just closing any doubt Esper might of had that I’m the best magician in existence. Should I woo you too?”

Masi rolls his eyes. Lusa’s grin is just as confident and loving as always.

“Oh no, I’m already amazed,” he quips sarcastically, but the fondness still remains. Turning to Esper, he continues. “If you’re ready, we can go clothes shopping for you if you’d like, and afterwards, we could cut your hair?”

Esper nods up at him, offering a smile to boot. He seems much more at ease, be it because of Lusa’s antics or because the girls had gone away.

He grips the edge of the table as he stands up, and then he looks away for a bit, frowning at the wall. “Hey,” he mutters, “could we have more chocolate later?”

His eyes sparkle hopefully, but he plays with his slender fingers. “I-I mean, it was really good, so I just…”

“Yeah?” Mastermind lets the fondness show; getting compliments from Lusa is enough of a joy, but with the additional Esper he’s starting to a feel a little less self-conscious of his skills. It can’t be that bad if they both compliment it so regularly, right?

“I’ll make you another when we return, though while we’re out you can try anything you like the look of.”

“You’ll love crepes!” Lusa adds in his suggestion. He loves crepes, and he knows Masi is a sucker for them too, and can’t resist buying at least five when they smell them.

“Alright, alright, I’ll grab my coat and we can get going. Lusa, make sure everything is locked down.”

Lusa gives a mock salute with two fingers, and Mastermind’s back retreats down the corridor to their room.

“There’s no deadline, so pick anything you like the look of!” Lusa lifts a strand of the other’s hair, inspecting it. “Your hair is as white as ours, your eyes are a mystery too, but it’s not unpleasant.”  

Lusa catches himself and drops the strand lightly, chuckling broadly to himself. “Don’t mind me, I speak some nonsense sometimes! We’ll get your hair nice and neat too!”

Esper cocks his head to the side even as his hair is released; he’d even managed to suppress a wince, though his shoulders stay just a tad bit tense.

 _Will the others like him better with cut hair?_ he can’t help but ponder. Will that be a good thing? Nothing good comes from being a favourite toy.

Looking at the probably-overexcited Lusa and listening to him talking about things he will probably - _definitely_? - like, Esper finds his thought drifting to his body. He isn’t hungry, he’s still fairly full from the breakfast, but he’s starting to be hungry. The actual food seems to keep it at bay some, but he knows it won’t be long, maybe a day or two, until his body yearns for the sweetness of the high. He can feel it in the tips of his fingers, how they’re already starting to itch and itch and itch and itch—

He snaps out of it with a small sound and shakes his head. He’ll deal with it when it comes, just like he’d always done.

“Sorry for the wait.” A now-coated Mastermind appears into the room, hands stuffed in his pockets and a ponytail re-tied to look neater.

Masi stops himself. Something doesn’t feel quite right; his glance tilts to Esper and he squints. How odd. He shakes his head and lets it pass. He’s always been the paranoid one.

Lusa greets Masi with a sloppy kiss on the lips, childishly dragging his tongue over the other’s cheek.

“Oh god Lusa, that’s disgusting!” Masi rushes to wipe it off with a tissue, scrubbing at the cheek until it’s red. He pouts.

“Ya looked uptight!”

Ah, now he gets it. Lusa can tell too, but doesn’t want to verbalise it, so a distraction is the best method. It’s something they’ll have to face later, but for now, it’s best to simply focus on building trust with Esper.

“Ready to go, Esper?” Masi fixes himself, and gestures to their door with his head.

Esper nods, playing with the hem of his borrowed shirt. It occurs to him he doesn’t really understand the level of closeness between the other two, and that he had turned away from them before, somehow ashamed to see them kissing.

While they wait for Masi to lock the door after them, Esper takes to looking around the corridor. It seems to be quite a bit larger than it had appeared last night in the unnatural lighting. It fascinates him, if only shallowly, that there’s such a difference.

He follows after the others, glancing around the way to fill in the blanks from last night.

They all pile out of the apartment, after Lusa checks overly thoroughly that everything is indeed locked down and secure. They pass though the hall, through the common room and down the stairs. They pull out their individual shoes, Masi taking out two pairs of his own, offering one to Esper.

“I’m unsure if these will fit, but until we can get you a few new pairs, please bear with these for a while.”

With shoes on their feet, they exit the vet’s, passing by an operating room with curious noises all too quickly.

Once outside Lusa places himself leader and boisterously marches the streets, soon in the centre where smells and sounds assault the three. Lusa, suddenly clueless, turns to Masi with a shy smile.

“So… Large range of shops to get clothing from, huh?”

With a roll of his eyes, Masi takes the lead, guiding them into a more sophisticated location. The shops’ windows sparkle with overpriced diamonds and fine leathers.

First order of business is shoes, Masi decides. They bumble into the shop with the chime of the bell, and Mastermind gestures for the two to sit. Unsurprisingly they do, while Masi wanders the shelves to inspect the durability and style of them.

“He’s pretty serious about presentation and fine clothing. We’re lucky enough that the price doesn’t matter, but just… Brace yourself, if he gets a little too enthusiastic about it.” Lusa watches the other scavenge through the shelves, hunting for quality and laughs at the display, “He wants the best for you, anything less isn’t acceptable to him.”

Esper takes to swinging his feet again while his eyes follow Masi around. The shoes he’d been lent are a little too big and his feet keep sliding around inside of them, but he hadn’t stumbled even once, so that was good, right?

“Why?” he asks, turning to the berserker a little and looking up at him from underneath his messy bangs. He doesn’t get it; why do they want him to be nice? “Why does it matter if I look good? Wouldn’t it be easier without all this…” He scrunches his brow, rakes his brain for the appropriate word. He gets one, though he almost winces as it burns on his tongue. “..ado? I can do whatever you want me to without pretty clothes.”

“Whatever we want to? We’re not going to make ya do anything, Esper, nothing you don’t want to. You’re here with us because we care about you, you don’t owe us anything, we just want to support you.”

Lusa watches the shoes on the boy slide back and forth over his heel. Just how small is the boy? Masi’s feet are tiny.

“To Masi, feeling good starts with looking good, he doesn’t value appearance over personality or anything, but when we had our… circumstances, Masi found great value and confidence in appearing well. So, he doesn’t know. Be gentle with him Esper, he believes this will help you, and it might! Sometimes feeling good on the outside makes you feel good on the inside!”

Lusa smushes his cheek into the palm of his hand, eyes still following his lover collecting shoes.

“We want to help you Esper. We don’t have any wicked intents, and we’re pretty diabolical ourselves, but give us a chance?”

Lusa doesn’t wait for a reply, standing up and casting a smile down at Esper. He walks away to help Masi carry the bundle of shoes he’s trying to balance, laughing when they all topple to the floor.

Esper frowns softly. He knows when people lie; he’s heard quite a fair share of lies, so either Lusa is the best liar in the existence, or he’s not lying. It doesn’t add up, though, no matter how he looks at it. They don’t have anything to gain from him, not really.

He startles at the numerous _thuds_ , shoulders hunching until the resonance passes from the air. He cranes his neck to look over the aisle.

“Are you all right?” he asks, peering down at the heap of boxes covering the others.

“Simply wonderful…” Mastermind remarks dryly as he sets to aggressively collecting the shoes, a contrast to Lusa who laughs while he leisurely stacks them back into a more manageable hold.

“I don’t think Esper needs over thirty pairs of shoes anyway, I don’t even have ten.”

“That’s because you refuse to let me buy you some! What if Esper were to lose a pair? Or two? He’d have back ups, and if they went missing? That’s why we also need two more just in case.”

Lusa sighs and raises a brow at the other, a clear 'really?’ on his features. Masi faces it with a scowl before glancing down at the bundle of boxes he holds containing them. Okay, maybe he was exaggerating a little. He groans and starts placing the less needed ones back on the shelves.

After a while they settle on ten, presenting them to Esper. Five for work and five for leisure.

“Tell us which ones you like. Are you okay with trying them on?”

“Yeah…”

Esper obediently tries on the shoes, finding most of them to be too big so they have to find the correct size for him. He looks over them, gaze sliding to the other two. Mastermind seems to be enjoying this, maybe a little more than Lusa and Esper combined (which, honestly, with Esper’s concern, isn’t that hard of a feat).

“Masi, that’s too many,” he complains, but still doesn’t quite raise his voice.

He likes the sneakers, though, they’re almost like his old pair. Sans the faded colours and dirt caked into them, of course.

“No, no! It’s fine, besides now you can choose between whichever you want!” There’s a delight upon Masi’s face which neither of the other two can de-code. He seems so joyed that he can do this for Esper.

“They all fit, right? I’ll go buy them!” He quickly packs them all back and dashes towards the counter to pay for them all.

Crouching down, Lusa picks up the shoes Esper was wearing up until this point and places them into a spare bag. For once, he’s thankful about the hoards of bags Masi insists they carry.

“Might as well wear them now rather than these uncomfortable things. My guess is that Masi is going to get you an entire four seasons worth of clothing.”

“That’s really dumb,” Esper mutters as he stands up. “How’s he even going to carry all those boxes?” There’s a giddy feeling in his stomach, butterflies flying around or whatever pretty metaphor he’d heard ages ago.

Four seasons. That’s such a long time.

“Do you really want to keep me around that long?” He asks, peering at Lusa with an unreadable look, curiosness tainting the edges of his eyes.

“Of course! If ya decide to leave we can’t stop ya but, we really enjoy your company. It’s nice, the three of us, I like it.”

Masi somehow manages to pile the boxes into a mere two bags. There’s a spring in his step as he rejoins the other two. He pulls out one of the boxes and presents the shoes for Esper to wear. He bins the box soon after, no need to take up space for something now useless.

“Now then! We’ll need three suits and a multitude of other clothing. Nightwear, swimwear, formal, causal, semi-formal, the vet uniform. Ahh you’ll probably need socks and underwear, additionally scarves and gloves for when it gets cold. I wonder if beanies would suit you? We’ll have to try, perhaps—”

Lusa frantically gestures for Esper to bear with it. Just bear with it, smile and give his opinion on this clothing, that it’ll go by fast that way.

‘Faster’ only really means that Masi keeps beaming throughout the whole afternoon, positively glowing with the energy. It’s quite the sight to behold. Esper doesn’t mind, even if his feet start aching from all the walking.

He’s carrying a bunch of bags, but probably not even half of what Lusa is. Lusa had gone to get them water when it became apparent that Esper was becoming tired. The almost-freezing water feels great on his parched throat.

They wait around in front of the store, sitting on a bench while Mastermind keeps looking through scarves and hats.

Suddenly, Lusa whirs around, looking around the street with a hawk-like gaze. “Aren’t ya hungry? I could’ve sworn there was a crepe place around here somewhere.”

Esper makes a small affirmative hum. His stomach had started to twist earlier. Though it isn’t like he couldn’t deal with it, but it would be nice to get some food.

And so they wait for Masi, now even more agitatedly.

A few more moments of people watching and Masi comes into view, more bags in hand but a tired smile in place. Even he’s had enough now.

“Apologies for the wait, I’m certain we have everything we need now.” Masi is almost too grateful that Lusa takes away two of his bags, without even asking.

They finally leave the last shop, relief evident in their body language.

“Now then,” he starts, looking towards the clock splayed high in the centre of town, “It’s almost seven? Well, we can have a proper meal once we return but, why not get some crepes until then?”

Lusa bites his tongue, sometimes their similarities surprise him. They nod and proceed to depart from the centre and on their way back home stop by the crepe stand, all buying one each (Lusa whined for two, but Masi informed him that it would spoil dinner).

Marshmallows, chocolate syrup, chocolate eggs, sugar, honey and other highly questionable sweetness lather their crepes, warm and packed with gooey chocolates. Lusa’s is practically dribbling while he walks.

“Whatever cooking voodoo the guy who makes these performs, I want in on it.”

“Lusa, don’t be so daft, tempting demons and spirits are the last thing you’d want to do.”

Lusa would make another remark but his mouth is too full of the goodness. He turns to Esper instead to see the other enjoying his own crepe. He seems to enjoy the taste, if the gleam in his eyes is of any indication.

Esper really seems to have taken a liking to chocolate. There are specks all over his fingers and around his mouth; he almost looks like a small kid eating ice cream.

They get back surprisingly quickly for carrying that many bags. They don’t bother with the sorting yet. Instead, Masi moves to prepare the dinner while Esper and Lusa just dump them into a big pile in the bedroom.

They — 'they’ being mostly Esper — get cleaned and then crowd around the kitchen table, asking Masi whether he needs any help with the food.

“It’s quite alright, it simply needs to be left to its own devices now. It’ll not take more than thirty minutes.”

Masi seats himself around the island, joining the other two. They bicker softly, inquire more about things that Esper likes, state they’ll put off Esper’s hair cutting until tomorrow.

“What’s chef Masi serving tonight?” Lusa teases, but the rumble of his stomach tells just how much he actually wants the aroma he can smell.

“Pasta. With really overly complex sauce,” Masi dryly responds. Lusa despises red peppers, so if he informs him they’re within the sauce, they’ll be in for a night of sulking and fussing.

“There better not be red—”

Rapid knocking, firm and just, echoes through the apartment and cuts off Lusa’s statement.

“I’ll get it,” Masi heaves himself up, eager to avoid Lusa’s pepper accusations. He opens the door and is shocked to discover the three beauties, grim looks on their faces.

“We’re fucked. With a capital F,” Luna says.

Mami lightly punches her shoulder and takes a deep breath. “Eve called,” she explains, a bit more composedly. “They… they want to talk.”

The way she says 'talk’ suggests that’s not the only thing on Eve’s mind. Suddenly, dinner is the last thing on Masi’s mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so Luna likes to exaggerate a lot of the time, but this does sound serious, even if Mami had managed to maintain her cool facade. Maybe it wasn’t a facade. The boys were never sure with her, she’s just a tad bit more mysterious than Masi with her emotions.

But… ‘talking’ with EVE means they want something. The problem is finding out what that something is.

Esper looks the most uncomfortable out of the three of them, to be honest. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do. The food keeps bubbling, forgotten on the stove, and he keeps looking at it from time to time, knees now pulled up to his chest on the chair.

When he isn’t watching the dangerously-close-to-overflowing mess of pasta, he keeps looking at the other two men, and how they’re dealing with the ordeal.

With the girls gone, they look like they have a plan already, or maybe Esper is just telling himself that to feel better.  Whoever this 'Eve’ is, she doesn’t sound like someone to mess with, especially if Luna said they’re 'fucked, with capital F’ at just the mention of talking to her.

“Masi?” he calls tentatively, breaking the tense silence that one could easily cut with a knife if they wanted to. “Who’s Eve? Why was Luna scared of talking with her?”

Mastermind hisses, running his gloved digits through his hair, pulling at the shorter strands.

“EVE is… a pack of fleas who runs the majority of the ports here. We rely on them for material import, but certainly not willingly.”

Lusa balls up his hands, an angered smile splitting his lips.

“Just as we are the 'Alleviation Deporting Disposal’ or 'ADD’ for short, 'EVE’ happen to be their own organisation. And a pain in the ass at that.” Lusa grits his teeth, “Filthy fleas, wonder what they wish to suck us dry of this time?”

The pot on the shove gives a harsh bang, the lid bursting off and foamy bubbles of irritated heat spilling over the opened seal, all over the stove. Mastermind curses and quickly grabs a towel to capture the spillage and frantically turns the heat down, sighing once the spilling over quells.

“Whatever they wish to exploit us for—” A wicked grin merges over Masi’s features, “—it’ll be rather amusing to see them try.”

“EVE…” Esper mumbles under his breath, no longer watching as Masi wipes the spillage of pasta, or as Lusa sits down and starts fiddling with his phone. He stares off into distance, through the large windows, looking but unseeing all the pretty scenery.

“Eccentric visceral enation…”

He shudders as the words pass through his lips, flatlined and cold, and he hugs his legs tighter, elongated nails digging into the skin through his pants. “The bastards…”

Lusa picks up on the boy’s squirming first, being sat closest to him. He can see the tension surrounding Esper, then the clench of his jaw. He’s angry? How curious.

“How do ya know about EVE?” Lusa should comfort the other, he knows, but his own craving for answers doesn’t douse in comparison. How does Esper, this odd boy with a clouded background and even more clouded behaviour, know of the infamous Port Queens?

Mastermind dutifully draws their attention to him when he hands them both a bowl of pasta and cutlery each. He sits down to join them.

“I want a run-through report. You can bet they’d exploit every crack they can find in our statements. Don’t let that happen. Ensure all members are notified before we leave, Lusa.”

“Ya think I don’t know that already?!” Lusa stabs into his pasta, shoving a clod of the food into his mouth, voice muffled, “Wha we duh 'bau Esfer?”

“Oh, I’m coming along!” Esper tells them, voice steadier and more sure than they’ve heard it so far. This also gives him the perfect opportunity to dodge Lusa’s earlier question. He doubts they’d want to hear about heaps of human bones while eating, even if they are the mafia lords — or something, Esper still isn’t sure if they’re actual mafia or whatever.

'Alleviation Deporting Disposal’ should give him a hint as to what they do as an organisation, but his mind draws a blank at the unfamiliar words. His mind is occupied by other thoughts, anyway.

Rationally, he knows he should never ever return anywhere near the port docks. He’d been avoiding them like the plague ever since since getting himself free, but there’s a part of him — and a rather large part of him, admittedly — that wants to go back there, if only to face his own fears, to show that he’d gotten stronger and can take them on. All of them, not just the majority like before.

He doesn’t even eat, more like just plays around with the pasta with his fork, waiting until they… set out, he guesses. He knows there’s a degree of preparation needed, Masi asked Lusa for a report of some sort, after all, but he’s a little restless, wants to hop up and leave already.

Masi finishes his mouthful, unlike someone, before he speaks up.

“Esper, these fleas show little to no mercy.” Before Esper opens his mouth to protest, Masi holds a hand up, hushing him. “Please stay close to Lusa during our visit.”

Lusa gulps down the food hastily. “You’re letting him come?!”

“He appears to have his reasons. Besides, you’ll keep him safe.” Leaving no room for argument, Mastermind picks up the plates once everyone has deemed themselves done. He scrapes the waste into the bin.

“What if I have my hands full?! Then what?!”

“I’ll be there, and that’s the worst case scenario.”

“You’re nuts,” Lusa grins, “Well, at least I won’t be stumped for entertainment.” Lusa ruffles Esper’s hair before standing, and popping his back. “Do ya prefer guns, swords or knives, Esper?”

Esper has to bite down on his tongue to say he doesn’t want any of them, doesn’t need any of those. Instead, he says, through ground teeth, “A knife is fine.”

He had never used a gun, so that’d be completely useless to him. And swords are too impersonal, don’t allow the combat to be as close as knives. Well, it’s not like he plans to use the knife if they do get into a fight anyway.

A sadistic smile graces Lusa’s lips, teeth sharp and wicked, ready to pounce. Cracking his knuckles, Lusa lets the buzz and excitement ride through him. _God_ , he hopes something happens, it’s been so long since he’s felt the ache of his muscles and the addictive thrill of the chase.

“Lusa, may I remind you that we want a _peaceful_ conclusion today.” Masi knows the bloodlust that flickers in Lusa’s eyes well, and he can relate to it all too well, too. The both of them get a little too eager to draw out a fight, but reason stables Masi. Spilling blood is the last thing they need at this time. Playing with EVE isn’t like playing around with someone else.

“I know, I know… But if they did…”

Mastermind sighs.

“Just get yourself and Esper ready. I’ll talk to the beauties.” With exasperation, Masi shakes his head and moves towards the door. The genius will admit, seeing his lover sweaty, covered in blood and with manic joy in his eyes does, as weird as it may be, satisfy him. He doesn’t want him to get actually hurt, however.

“So Esper, know how to wield a knife? Come on, I’ll teach ya some stuff!” Lusa sounds practically giddy, waving Esper to follow him into one of the rooms when they’re left alone.

Esper follows after him, and takes the knife Lusa offers him without a word.

He holds it a little clumsily, but his movements with it are practiced, making it obvious he’d worked with something similar before. Well, a knife isn’t all that different from a bone shiv, or just a sharpened bone. He swings a few times experimentally, getting a feel for the weapon’s weight.

That’s the only thing throwing him off, how heavy the metal feels in his fingers as he moves it between fingers.

“I’ll be fine,” he tells Lusa, “Don’t worry about me.” The last thing he needs is to cause them more trouble. To be more in debt to them than he already is.

His stomach does an uncomfortable flip; being indebted to someone is never good. And Masi and Lusa have already done a lot for him.

Lusa quirks a brow up, an amused 'Oh?’ falling from his lips.

He leans closer to Esper, too close, to the point their foreheads touch. The berserker is surprised Esper doesn’t pull away.

“Ya need to be careful though,” Lusa starts, his voice dipping an octave, “Someone could take advantage of any situation.”

Lusa slips his arms over Esper’s, pads of his fingers skimming down exposed skin. Lusa breathes hotly against the other.

“Never let your guard stray—” Lusa pulls away immediately, pacing away from the now flushed Esper, and juggling the knife he stole from hand to hand. “See?”

He throws the sheathed blade back at Esper, who just captures it, flabbergasted and flushed.

“Sorry, sorry, couldn’t resist~” Lusa turns and starts to undress shamelessly in front of Esper, pulling his t-shirt over himself, exposing his chest and showcasing old gauges out of his skin.

“Oh duh! Your new clothes, hold on—!” Lusa exists the room, filled with a curious amount of simple wardrobes, to rustle through the hoards of shopping bags they left in the living room, tossing Esper some rather formal black clothing, dress pants, a tie and shoes.

Esper catches them with some difficulty, lithe fingers still gripping tightly onto the sheathed knife. He just stands there for a moment, completely stunned, still flabbergasted.

What had just happened?

His heart is beating a mile per hour, loud in his ears. Lusa was close. Too close. And he couldn’t pull away — with a strange mixture of fear and curiosity, maybe, he was rooted to one spot, letting Lusa take his weapon so easily. Well, it’s not like he needs the knife, but…

Why won’t his heart slow down? The danger — the close proximity — is already gone, so why isn’t he calm already? The coloration of his cheeks, the blood rushing up to paint them a brilliant shade of red, only deepens when Lusa points it out.

Breathing laboured, he clutches the clothes. His eyes stray away from Lusa, who is busy changing himself, shamelessly showing off his toned and scarred body. Esper is a little envious; not of the scars, he has his own fair share of those, but of the muscles. It was impossible to even gain weight, much less muscle mass in his imprisonment.

“Um…” he mutters, fiddling with his knife. He feels like a child again. Even all the anger and bloodlust — and fleshlust — have faded to the back of his mind. He fidgets. “I— don’t know how to put this on,” he admits finally, very quietly, fingers running over the smooth, silky fabric of the tie.

Lusa discards his saggy sweatpants, kitten boxers clenching fashionably around his bottom. He bends over to jump himself into some dress pants. “Hm?” Lusa looks up with the 'zzzt’ of his fly zipped, assessing the fabric held like a limp snake upon Esper’s fingers. Lusa grins and steps closer.

“Alright, first things first, arms up!” Lusa grabs at the hem of Esper’s plain tee, already lifting it up towards his chin.

“W-wait!” Esper flushes again, trying to pry away from the others approach, but Lusa seems persistent, and the boys fear grows. _This is just like before—!_

_Click._

“Come on! Just lift your arms and—”

“What the fuck?”

All movement pauses as Lusa slowly turns his head towards the front door, a slightly flushed — from anger or embarrassment Lusa doesn’t know — Masi. Mastermind blinks once, twice, before clearing his throat.

“Lusa, Esper may not feel safe with you doing… Whatever it is you’re doing?”

Lusa releases his hold immediately, stepping away from the shivering boy, and starts apologising profoundly.

Esper’s heart hadn’t even stopped racing from before, so now he could practically feel it up in his throat. He turns away from the other two, disrobing and pulling on the new clothes in a much less flashier way than Lusa. He also does it fast, even considering the buttons on the dress shirt.

When he’s done, he turns back, finding the two in a hushed conversation. He plays around with the tie while they talk — interrupting a talk means punishment, and he’d rather not face one today — wait… Would they punish him?

He doesn’t know how it goes in here, but so far they are nothing like his captors have been. His researchers…

“Um…” he tries his luck, subtly presenting the black tie in his hand while his eyes wander to the left side, looking intently at the wall like it holds the secrets of the universe.

It doesn’t. He’s just nervous, feels inadequate in the others’ obviously more sophisticated presence. He starts rolling up his sleeve with his free hand, nails scratching along the skin to calm him, not enough to pierce it, but more than enough to feel. Why is he so nervous anyway?

In their hushed bickering, soon evolving into Lusa none-too-discreetly running his hands over Masi’s exposed chest, they don’t hear Esper.

The boy has to repeat himself, louder, before Lusa stops his impression of a koala and looks to Esper. He brightens up, stepping towards the fully dressed boy. Masi signs in relief, taking it as a chance to dress himself.

Lusa takes the fabric from between Esper’s finger, lifting the boy’s collar and looping the fabric around. The little pressure around Esper’s neck makes him flinch, but he stays solidly in place.

“Ta-da!” Lusa proclaims, gesturing to his handywork, a knotted clump of fabric messily tied together. It looks utterly dreadful.

“Oh for the love of—! Here.” Mastermind, apparently being the only one finely dressed in the near vicinity, takes over, untying the mess and retying it to look more presentable.

“Lusa is the worst with ties. Never trust him to dress you.” To punctuate his statement, Masi juts a thumb in Lusa’s direction. The man isn’t even wearing a tie, opting to simply wear his collar down with two buttons undone at the top, exposing his collarbones.

Mastermind reassures Esper with a smile.

“We’ll be beside you if anything goes wrong—” With the sight of the wicked grin spreading across Lusa’s face, Masi firms his words and points them towards the berserker “—which _won’t_ happen if we remain level headed.”

Esper pulls at the tie, loosening it a little so the flashback of a metal collar encircling his neck go away. He fiddles with the sheathed knife in his hands, finally strapping it to his thigh as he sees Lusa do. His fingers glide along the smooth handle, curling and uncurling periodically.

He itches for the fight. It’s been just a while too long without a fight, without having to kill someone for survival, or to sate himself.

He’s ready to go.

* * *

The atmosphere around them is thick and chilled. Even beneath their suits goosebumps rise and give them tremors. They’ve arrived at the location instructed, the nearby port which holds masses of storage containers, each plastered with EVE and their logos.

It’s late evening and the last flecks of sunlight glimmer on the nearby sea, giving a peaceful view across this unnerving situation.

The three wait, stiff with their hair blowing softly in the wind. Mastermind casually scans his eyes in the shadows, and around the corners of containers. Seems they weren’t the only ones to set up snipers and hitmen. Letting his eyes wander to Lusa and Esper, he finds Lusa practically buzzing, biting his lip to maintain his grin and swaying on the balls of his feet. What a handful.

Esper, he notices, seems almost as eager. Though significantly less showy in his excitement, there’s evident bloodlust in the boy’s eyes. He’ll have to be weary of letting that slip to a breaking point.

“Ah,” Masi tisks in realisation, breaking the tense silence around them. He reaches out a hand to capture a clump of Esper’s hair, softly. “I completely forgot to cut your hair.”

With a little discomfort, Esper awkwardly nods and tries to shrug the other off. At least with Mastermind, he can easily read a situation and let it be. Lusa tends to let his eagerness and curiosity drive him past considering. Though sometimes that’s needed.

A creak sounds and all three boys turn to it, backs straight and necks held high. They won’t be intimidated.

The rusty grind comes from a storage container, opened up now to reveal carpeted stairs downwards, golden chandeliers lighting the way down. At the doors stand three gentleman. Three very white gentleman. From their hair of varying lengths to their suits, their eyes a vibrant orange with a robotic numbness to them.

They all bow and speak in unison. Metallic and forced.

“We welcome you warmly, ADD’s, and thank you greatly for attending on such short notice, please step this—”

“Outta the way!” Lusa doesn’t even let the three men finish their greeting, barging through them and taking powerful steps downwards.

“Sir Psyker, we ask that you—”

“What?” Lusa sharply turns, sending a murderous glare their way, canines sharp and ready to sink in. “Is there a problem?”

“Lusa,” Mastermind firmly reminds Lusa with just his voice. _Do not actively engage in a fight._ Lusa tisks and leans against the container’s wall instead, where it joins down into the concrete walls.

Mastermind draws his attention back the three escorts.

“Please skip the formalities and direct us to your bosses.”

“R—right. This way then…” The longest haired responds, awkwardly scooting past Lusa who eyes him dangerously all the while. He gulps, taking the lead and guiding them down. The other two close the doors behind them and follow in the back behind Esper and Mastermind.

Masi speaks softly to Esper, voice hushed and drowned out to anyone other than Esper.

“How are you feeling?”

Esper, eyes cast forward and jaw set firmly, doesn’t hesitate a moment to say, “Like I want to puke.”

The hallway is narrow and dim, and the expensive-looking furnishing just adds another level to the whole scale of creepiness.

Esper doesn’t like narrow corridors. And he also doesn’t like these guys. There’s something about them, something familiar, something that makes the pit of his stomach churn with bile that could easily force its way up his throat.

As they go, the lights from the chandeliers create dark shadows on his pale face, accenting his deep frown.

“Do you do this often?” he asks instead, finding just a speck of his insecurity as he side eyes Masi and fiddles with the bottom hem of his dress shirt.

Dress shirt that’s very itchy on his unused skin. The tie also doesn’t help, no matter that it’s loosened so much that it looks like a noose waiting around his neck.

Wait, no, bad thought. He refocuses on Masi.

“Seems like a pain.”

He’s sure his attempt at sarcastic cynicism doesn’t go over well. He used to be better at this. Now he’s just an unsure, confused mess most of the time. _Just like at the beginning._

Masi considers.

Esper is uncomfortable, that’s obvious from his clear fidgeting and his unfocused eyes, darting around as if looking for possible escape routes now. But he’s here, and had rather firmly insisted on coming. How odd.

“Esper, it’ll be alright,” he assures the other. Comforting is more of Lusa’s thing, but he tries to imitate the action he’s seen the berserker use on Esper many times, but it’s different. Masi glides his fingers around Esper’s hair strands, untangling them and smoothing them out, slightly scratching at his scalp to soothe any irritation and leave a tingling sensation.

He draws away though, once they step out into a floor with a thick, guarded steel door. The bulk of metal hisses opening after the man in front swipes his card and inserts a six digit number.

The order the numbers are pressed in doesn’t go unnoticed by Mastermind. It may come in handy later.

Once they’ve stepped through, and pass more heavily decorated hallways lined with armed men, they’re stopped at a door, and asked to step inside.

It’s dimly lit, like the whole way had been, and Lusa is already quieting his breathing to hear out for any signs of a sneak attack.

“So I see you have arrived. Welcome.”

Lusa immediately has a gun to the temple of the owner’s voice, drawing, loading and aiming with lighting precision. It amazes Masi every time he sees it.

The owner, a woman draped in royal white garments, continues, almost doll-like and resembling a princess, ignoring the possibility of lead puncturing her temple.

“I hope you are all well. Though the invite did only state two, we are able to adapt to accommodate three. Come now, there is much to talk about.”

The woman gracefully walks into the darkness of the room, her braided up hair catching the faint pink lighting that surrounds them. She presents them to two sofas and a coffee table filled with extravagant China, cutlery, sweets and teas. Like a scene straight out of Alice in wonderland, they’ve arrived to the Mad Hatter’s tea party.

“Please, help yourself to anything you fancy for now, my sisters shall be joining us shortly.”

Lusa doesn’t sit, and doesn’t put his gun away, and with Esper awkwardly following, it’s up to Masi to seat himself down and politely accept the tea offered to him. Lusa, with much reluctance, seats next to Masi. Very close. Just in case — he _is_ a bodyguard, after all, even after all this.

The woman turns her attention to Esper, offering him a steaming cup. She smiles softly, but her brow never bends into anything other than neutral. It is almost like she is made out of porcelain. If she didn’t blink, Esper would think so.

“Please accept the calming jasmine brew and seat yourself.”

With a frown, Esper obliges, sitting down by the edge of the sofa with the tiny plate and cup in hand.

They wait in nothing short of a tense silence, no one drinking the offered beverages - safety rule number one (Okay, maybe not number one but… It’s up there. Top five maybe). Finally, the door on the other side of the decorated room opens with a heavy sound dragging over the plush carpet to reveal two silhouettes of other women walking in.

“Sorry for being late,” Nemesis says upon stepping in, shadower by Seraph, whose hair sways delicately with each step.

Esper’s heart stops.

The cup he’s been holding falls from his hands and shatters on the impact with the table. But no one pays attention to that, to the sharp pieces of priceless China scattered around the carpet nor the dripping tea.

No, they’re all looking at Seraph, who’s by now on the ground, pinned by Esper’s body weight. The boy moved so fast no one even caught it before it was too late, like a pouncing panther.

He wraps his exposed, pale, and scarred hands around Seraph’s perfect neck, squeezing tightly as his chest heaves sharply. There’s a wild look in his eyes — not the eagerness from before, not the usual bloodlust, not even the usual hunger. No, there’s another wildness, the wildness of a cornered animal, striking out of the pure instinct to survive.

“You!” he exclaims, voice so loud some of the present jump. “You were there!!”

He squeezes Seraph’s neck, whole body trembling with badly-restrained rage. He did say he didn’t need the knife.

But thinking about it, it’d be much, much funnier, much more interesting and amusing, to use the knife first.

Flashbacks of the giant room and his tiny cage amongst the sea of other cages fill his brain, smells and feeling flooding in as if he’s right there again, sitting on the cold ground, and there’s always her. Every week, Friday morning, nine AM on the spot. Walking through the lines of cages like they were cattle, boots clicking on the tiles and hair swaying softly as she regarded them with cold eyes.

Oh, how he’d waited for this opportunity, how he’d wanted to see the life drain out of her pretty, picture-perfect face. His whole life.

The modest Eve’s eyes widen at the direct change in situation. She quickly retracts her own weapon, a dagger, and pointedly grasps Masi back, pointing a blade to his neck.

Oddly enough, neither Lusa or Masi seem even partially worried about the hostage situation, instead eyes locked on the feral boy, eyes glazed over with animalistic desire to _destroy_.

The Eve clad in black, a contrast to the other two, points a loaded gun to the back of Lusa’s temple. Her voice is hissed and aggressive. “Get him off instantly!”

Lusa makes no move, just studying the scene before him. It’s only when the girl tries to sidestep him to make a dash for her sister does Lusa grasp her in a headlock, hissing low against her ear.

“ _Don’t interrupt_.”

Needless to say, lurking in the shadows are armed men, their guns trained on them but not shooting without orders, and Lusa won’t move without Masi’s instructions or if he fears death for any of them.

Masi’s intuition is usually correct, and there’s no denying the spark of interest in his eyes. He wants to see Esper’s capability, learn about what the boy is mumbling about. Lusa makes no move and merely watches, a grin gracing his face.

Seems the Eves are curious too. They’re not this stupid to get caught, and none of them seem too demanding in stopping the situation.

Lusa huffs out a quick laugh, eyes darkening. Oh, this is going better than he thought it would, now there’s questions, questions he needs the answers to. Good.

“L—le-!” The girl beneath Esper weakly raises a hand, vision already blurring and windpipe rapidly losing access to air. She can hardly move, and the shaking in her arms and blurriness in her vision lets her know this more so. _What are her sisters doing? Why are they doing nothing?_

“Not a chance,” Esper hisses lowly, baring his sharp teeth at her in a wide leer. “I’ll enjoy feeling as your fucking life escapes you, bitch.” His voice goes dangerously level, head going blank except for the premise of revenge, revenge, revenge.

He lets go of her throat and instead slams his bony elbow down into the juncture of her collarbones, sending the already spluttering and wheezing Seraph gasping for the breath that had been forced out of her.

Esper’s fingers curl around the knife on his thigh, pulling it out and holding it to her throat, making her feel the coldness of the blade for only a second before he drags it down and plunges it deep within her chest, between her breasts, and yanks down with all his might, tearing a literal hole down to her stomach, the white dress getting stained with her blood immediately.

He pulls it out only to plunge it in deep again, again and again, until his arm aches and he is heaving for breath. Splatters of crimson blood cover not only his chest, but his face, standing out against his pale, flushed with anger and adrenaline, face.

The knife, now useless to him, gets thrown away into some random corner of the room, its metallic clinks overpowered by Seraph’s insistent yells and pained moans, gurgled on the blood that starts to fill her throat and mouth, dripping out in a stream. Esper grasps the sides of the cut and yanks them open without hesitation.

The sound of flesh, tissue, muscles ripping is loud and sickening, but oh-so-satisfying.

“I’ll make you feel the pain you made me feel,” he promises, balling his hand around one of the organs exposed in the bloodied mess. “Though this won’t come anywhere close to it…”

He tears it out, blood spurting out thickly, and he keeps at it, digging his hand in again and again, tearing out more and more, until there’s no more to tear out, until he can feel Seraph’s limp head hit the carpet for the last time.

Even so, he howls — with anger, with pain, _agony_ — and rises, pulling the lifeless body up alongside him. He holds onto the torn open wound and pulls it apart again, pulling as far as the span of his arms allows him, quite literally ripping the girl’s corpse in half.

It falls from his now numb fingers and he stands over it, watching it, crumpled in a weird mess, but still resembling her. He can still see her walking down the aisles, watching them with her judgmental eyes.  

He’s shaking, even as he raises a foot and stomps on her face. And then does it again and again, not stopping. He can’t stand to look at her; bile threatens to rush up his throat, numbed by the stench of blood and gore.

It’s a sickening sight, the red that gushes everywhere, organs and bones sloshed and oozing warm blood. Her eyes are mashed, gelatine globs burst and hanging from her sockets, her face caved in and jaw snapped.

It riles Lusa up, gets him positively shaking with a mixture of emotions. He’s excited, he’s terrified and livid. Who hurt Esper to make him this savage? What exactly happened to the boy? Lusa drags his teeth over his bottom lip over and over again.

“I thought as much.” The Empress of the now duo, removes her blade from around Masi’s neck, and sets him free, unharmed and well. She waves her hand and men clad in white start to clean away the corpse of their fallen sister.

Masi blinks. _They just watched their sister get mangled._

Lusa, seeing no evident danger any longer, releases Nemesis too, allowing her to quickly scurry to her sister’s side, away from the berserker.

Lusa cares not, and advances slowly towards Esper. Mastermind lets him, Lusa’s better at this stuff than he is. While Lusa approaches, Mastermind directs his attention towards the maidens.

“I believe we’re due for answers,” he hisses, but the girls do nothing to provide him with answers. They don’t even seem worried about the gory demise their sibling has suffered. They only fear as they gaze at Esper, who’s kicking up a screeching fuss as the corpse is dragged away, yelling bloody murder that he wasn’t done yet, that she must be punished more.

“Please be seated.”

Mastermind tisks and doesn’t comply, attention now back to a frail Esper clawing away from Lusa’s strong hold around him, keeping him in place. Lusa treats him gently, hand running through the thick, blood-matted hair with little concern about the remains of blood and fluids that stain his suit.

But Masi shudders when he witnesses the black void of Esper’s eyes, pits that hold a slit of magenta, dilated and thirsty for more destruction.

“Esper,” Lusa coos, “Calm down.”

Esper shakes in Lusa’s hold, bloodied, gory fingers trying to pry away the arm holding him on instinct. As if a switch turns in his brain, Lusa’s words registering like a command, he goes limp, no longer fighting back.

“I’m sorry,” he says, softly. He can feel his throat hurting after all the screaming he did at the guards. Everything comes back to him. “You… you didn’t want a fight. I’m so sorry.”

Instead of anger, fear and regret flood him, overpowering the high of finally — _finally_ — getting his revenge on the one who watched over his confines for years. Tears spring into his eyes, stinging, and he tries to blink them away, but it doesn’t work. They roll down his cheeks, mingling with the blood and dripping down in a mixture of pink.

“Please,” he begs the stronger man, “don’t punish me…”

A lump forms in Lusa’s throat, and an uncharacteristic softness overcomes him. He’s gentle, only ever this gentle with Masi. He loosens his hold around the boy, turns Esper around, now holding him against his chest instead of holding him down. Esper can pull away if he wants to.

As gentle as he can, Lusa rubs at the boy’s hair and back, even opting for a gentle kiss to his temple, words warm like a blanket of promises. He assures Esper there’s no punishment, that they won’t hurt him, and he’ll hold him as long as he needs.

Once Esper practically buries himself into the berserker to weep uncontrollably, Masi considers their situation and their options. This was clearly set up, for what reason he’s unsure, and the itch to just _find out_ is maddening. But Esper… Esper isn’t fit to be here right now.

“We’re leaving,” he demands, not giving the Eves a second glance, and his tone daring them to object.

“We shall escort you—”

“Don’t come near us, you filthy fleas.” Mastermind nods to Lusa, who scoops Esper up and against him, and the trio stiffly exit the vicinity, Esper’s sobs breaking up their echoing footsteps. Nobody asks questions, and nobody stops them.

“Tsk. So it was a set up.”

Lusa hums in confirmation, eyes on the trembling boy in his arms, still pleading the two for mercy. It’s like he can’t even hear the two.

Once out, they seat themselves in the car waiting for them, Luna at the wheel and Mami in the passenger seat. She opens the door for them and bites her tongue to not ask any questions.

Mastermind leans back. Lusa’s still holding Esper against him. He retracts a napkin from his pocket, and leans over to dab at Esper’s face, beginning to clear the blood away from the boy.

Esper looks at them through his glossy, teary eyes, unable to stop trembling and crying — still expecting a punishment. They’re taking him back so they can give him an injection, he’s sure of it.

Apologies fall from his lips one after another, without pause even as his voice breaks. Maybe if he begs enough they’ll give him mercy, at least this time.

His body sings at the high of killing, tired but sated even as his brain goes through an emotion turmoil. It’s like they’re two different entities.

Still whispering, Esper falls unconscious — or it just seems so, at first. He falls asleep, body shutting down at the amount of stress and fear as a defense mechanism. He’d experienced it many times before — passing out just before an experiment so he wouldn’t have to suffer through it as much.

But even sleeping, he still keeps mumbling, lips moving slowly and only the occasional ‘sorry’ being audible enough to comprehend. It hadn’t even been two days, and he’d misbehaved.

He falls in and out of consciousness the whole ride, hearing the others talking but unable to understand what they were talking about. It had only ever been a few seconds at a time, too, so he didn’t think hearing would help him any, either.

When he regains his consciousness fully again, he’s covered by a white surgical sheet, bare feet feeling the fabric. He sucks in a harsh breath before he registers that the sheet is actually a blanket, gently draped over him and pulled behind, exposing one of his legs to the warm air.

He’s laying on a soft bed, a bed that smells familiar, but he can’t quite place it until he rolls his head sideways and finds himself centimeters from Lusa’s face. The other man is fast asleep, chest rising and falling under the blanket that he had obviously hoarded during the time he’d — they’d? — been asleep.

He’s back in the men’s apartment, tucked in their bed and wearing the pajama set they’d bought earlier. Soft light sneaks into the room through the closed blinds, tiny strips on the colored blanket and his hand resting there. Clean hand.

He raises it up to his face, looking at it and swearing he can see it covered in blood. But when he licks a strip from his wrist to his index finger, he tastes nothing.

It’s quiet. Save for Lusa’s and his soft breathing, the room is quiet. There’s a soft scent of something sweet floating through the air, making his stomach knot. He should get up. Check himself.

What had happened while he had been out of it? He can’t feel any pain — had he been given anesthesia? He squeezes his eyes closed again. He’s so confused, he just doesn’t know.

Beside him, Lusa grumbles something muffled before inching closer to the warmth of Esper, tucking his arms around Esper’s waist, pulling him close.

Esper freezes, he doesn’t want to awaken and upset the berserker, but he’s terrified of what exactly happened to him during his state of unconsciousness.

The smell wafts closer, before he can actually see the smell enter the room. Masi enters with a tray, too focused on balancing the beverages on it to notice Esper’s awake.

There’s pancakes, small muffins and syrup, along with cutlery and plates. Masi places it softly at the foot of the large bed, well away from any kicking feet. Looking up, their eyes lock, and Masi can’t help but chuckle. Lusa’s been this way for as long as he can remember. The laughter, however, soon stops once he sees the fear in Esper’s eyes.

“Esper?”

The boy’s brows knit together and he whispers softly, “I’m sorry for disobeying… What… did you do to me? What will you do to me?”

“…Disobeying? I— Esper we haven’t done anything, we’re not _going_ to do anything…” He swallows. Is this what Esper expects? A punishment if something is deemed 'incorrect’? He can’t say he doesn’t relate to that fear.

“Esper,” he tries again, softer. “There are no punishments for disobeying. There are rules that go without saying but, we’ve gone over those with you. We won’t harm you for making a mistake.”

He takes a muffin, offering it to the boy with a smile.

Esper takes the sweet, sitting up, albeit he doesn’t even look like he wants to eat it. He eyes it  
with unabashed doubt.

“What are you talking about?” he asks, frowning at the long-­haired man. “I didn’t listen. You said peaceful and no fighting and I… Went ahead and killed her… How can you… not punish me for that, I ruined the whole meeting I’m sorry I didn’t mean to disobey I just— I just…“ Esper deflates, gnawing on his bottom lip insistently. "I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

Mastermind sighs, leaning back to take a bite out of a muffin. When he scooped another treat up Esper isn’t sure. He swallows before answering.

“They were expecting you to attack it seems, which is why we weren’t put in any danger.” He takes another bite, chews and swallows again. “Though yes, you shouldn’t act on your own like that, it caused no one any harm on our side, and you came out safe. If you were hurt I’d lecture you, but that’s not the case.”

The genius finishes his muffin, dusts off his hands and hands Esper a mug, shaped comically like a cat’s paw. Cream, marshmallows and cocoa dust the top of the cup.

“It’s hot chocolate, what you drank before,” he soothes. “It’s hot.”

Esper takes the mug, exchanging it for the muffin even though his stomach growls at him to eat it.

“So I…” he mutters, fingers wrapping around the colorful ceramic and watching the tiny marshmallows as they bob on the surface, “won’t be punished?”

He looks up at Masi as if that’s the strangest thing to ever leave his lips — because it is. He can’t fathom the idea. He blinks, brows knitted together.

As he sits there, hunched over and half-covered with a blanket, with a cat mug in his hands, he resembles a child again, despite his lankiness.

The man shakes his head, his hair waving elegantly at the motions, still yet to be tied back.

“Never,” he assures, “We don’t harm our allies. We can lecture them, but unless they kill our own, we never harm them.”

It seems to give the boy some confidence, but doesn’t convince him. He sips at the cream, smearing it over his lips.

“Whoozmabepancakes?”

Masi pauses his own sip of tea, quirking a brow at the slurring Lusa, slowly stretching and opening sticky eyes. Masi quickly hands him his coffee. Lusa’s never one to sleep in, so it’s rare and sweet when he does. He knows not to tempt fate though, and presents his coffee which he takes with sleepy confusion.

Lusa takes the cup, but almost spills it all over himself as he wipes at his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Wake up before you dig in, we just changed the sheets,” Masi tells him, rolling his eyes when he sees the bulkier man immediately eyeing the plate on the tray. Esper is too, or maybe he’s eyeing the muffin, who knows.

The boy sips at his cocoa, though, tiny, almost kittenish gulps. He watches them. Doesn’t say anything about Masi’s words, but watches them with his vibrant, unnerving eyes.

“Thanks for the meal!” Lusa exclaims, having downed down his coffee in two big gulps, and descends upon the stack of pancakes, armed with a fork.

“I told you to wait!!” Masi chastises, growling lightly when Lusa manages to spill warm choco spread all over the front of his pajama shirt, as if on cue.

The berserker just laughs, shoving the pancake into his mouth. He doesn’t even swallow before he’s saying, “Buh yer pancakehs awe thbest.”

Masi’s face goes red at the comment, even as he sighs in exasperation at his lover’s antics. One would think he’d have gotten used to them, after so long, but no, apparently not.

Watching this whole scene unfold, Esper, still chewing on individual tiny marshmallows, can’t help but think,

“You really aren’t all that bad…”

He’s unaware he utters it out loud, and also that he’s heard by the others, who just exchange a pleased, sly grin on Lusa’s side, and a soft, tired smile on Masi’s.

Baby steps, right?


End file.
